


Hand of the Empress

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: For Order and Justice [4]
Category: Freelancer, Rifts, Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Cybernetics, Dimension Travel, Exile, Gen, Genetic Engineering, Humanoid Animals, Law Enforcement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-05
Updated: 2006-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-08 04:53:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 68,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now working with the Empress's Own, the wolfen Sharra Silverhair roots out lowlifes and conspiracies in the galaxy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Difficult Questions

A week or so later found Zillah and Sharra returned to the confines of the ship, much as they'd left it when last they were seen, and Sharra looked over to her companion with a quiet grin. "So, had enough of being planetbound for a while?"

"Hey, it was great and fun," Zillah said, grinning. "But I'm ready to move on anytime. There's more to see and do out there!"

Sharra nodded, taking a brief look through the hatch and sniffing the drifting breeze once more before sealing it and heading for the cockpit. "You know the way," she said, "I have it on good authority that we won't be bothered before returning to the helljump."

Zillah settled into the pilot's seat and brought up the coordinates that they'd come through, put them in, powered up the engines, and proceeded to take off.

The return was indeed without incident and they passed through the mines and into the wormhole to emerged back into Epsilon space. After they emerged, Sharra remarked casually, "There's a transponder in your multi that will allow you to go back through without worry from the mines, if you're ever inclined." She couldn't be there, of course, but she'd demanded that much from the Speaker.

Zillah gave a nod of acknowledgment but said, "I imagine there's plenty in this galaxy I haven't seen yet..."

They'd hardly been out of the wormhole for under a minute before they were hailed by Epsilon Station requesting identification. Sharra sent the identification response through, curious as to the sudden surge in alertness considering their remote entry point.

Zillah brought them in toward the station again, also curious about that. "Hmm. They were never quite that attentive before... Usually they didn't send out requests until you got close..."

"More of a waypoint at the moment anyway," Sharra replied. "Not really even that, since we can just head onward to Transylvania."

"Best stop by and see if some new catastrophe hasn't occurred while we were gone I suppose."

"Fair enough," Sharra replied.

Zillah docked them at the station and climbed out of the hatch. Even in the docking bay, there was a bit of a bustle going on, a hint of worry among the people there. There were also guards in Imperial uniforms standing at each of the exits.

"Hmm," Sharra muttered, taking a look around as they exit the ship, then heading for the nearest terminal. "Let's see what the datanet has to say about what's going on around here."

Zillah followed after her. The terminal, however, was pretty scant on solid information as to why they might be so agitated. It mentioned in recent news only the expansion of the Empire bringing their benevolence further into the fringe worlds (with a few comments tacked on that are not too pleasant, and a few more comments in reply to that flaming the people bitching about it), the reinstatement of the Empress's Own (which nearly everyone was happy about), and some worry about the Urians (the comments on that being wild rumors).

Nothing really new there, as long as there were people around there'd be loud ones more than willing to complain about change for good or ill and rumors were a millicred a dozen. Sharra shook her head and turned away from the terminal, intent on heading further into the station and listening for any hints of what had things stirred up around here.

Just as they were heading for the corridor, a squad of Imperial soldiers approaches and said, "Excuse me, but you'll need to accompany us for questioning regarding some recent matters. Don't worry, you're not under arrest or anything, but you may have been witnesses..."

Sharra looked at them and nodded, moving to comply. "As you wish, though if you check flight logs you'll find that we've been out of this system for the last couple weeks or so. I can't imagine what we may have seen before that which would be of interest, but will gladly answer what may be known."

"Were you or were you not on planet Tibet three weeks ago?" the commander asked.

Sharra nodded. "Yes, of course, and was involved in a rather unusual battle involving Urians and some creature they'd summoned out of one hell or another. What interest does the Empire have in it? Tibet was, to the best of my knowledge, an unaligned world."

The commander didn't care to elaborate in the corridor and led them to a nearby office. The rest of the squad proceeded to stand guard outside. "The battle itself was unusual enough, however we received ample information with regards to that from the Twilight Guardian. No, this is another matter."

Sharra folded her arms and inclined her head in polite question. "Then how may we be of service? I don't remember anything of particular note that would fall into the category of illegal or questionable." Barring Nihilian and Abram, but she wasn't about to go into that.

"My reports indicate that you had spoken with one Abram Jordan shortly before he left the planet. Do you know where he went?" Curious, as there had not actually been anyone else on the landing field at the time...

"I wouldn't know, in truth," Sharra replied. "The last time I spoke with him was shortly after the battle, and I left soon thereafter. He was still on the planet when I last saw him."

"We believe that he's been involved in some very serious business. Do you know _what_ he may have been planning when he left?"

"I'm afraid not," Sharra replied, though she could hope that the man had the sense to avoid the trouble that he was courting with the scum. "I only spoke to him briefly regarding the Cybion geneticist Armin Klaus who has since been remanded to Imperial custody."

He frowned at her deeply. He popped in a data crystal into the terminal and ran a recording. It was poor quality and video only, but nonetheless it was a recording of what transpired between her, Abram, and Nihilian. "Explain that, then."

Sharra smiled. "That's what I would call personal business, and of no interest to the Empire beyond what I've already referred to the military on Toronto. You have a pertinent question to pose regarding the situation?"

"We are aware of what you claimed on Toronto," he said. "However, no such thing transpired."

"All to the good then," Sharra replied. "Then the matter is certainly of no interest. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

The commander looked pretty distrustful and seemed to think she was concealing something, but before he could open his mouth to make any accusations, the door shushed open and a woman stepped inside. She was wearing a black Death Dancer uniform and wore a signet ring prominently on a finger, and bore a distinct resemblance to the Jordans. She was also at least 90% cybernetics.

Sharra wasn't particularly phased by his distrust, aware of the basic procedures which pertained to question and answer sessions. She was reluctant to reveal the nature of her conflict regarding Nihilian, wanting to give Abram the chance... she shook her head inwardly, then turned her attention to the newcomer.

The woman nodded to them in greeting and said, "I hope everything is going well, Commander?"

The commander sputtered a bit and said, "Yes, ma'am. I'm afraid they don't know anything about the matter.."

She said flatly, "Then there is no reason to hold them, is there."

He said, "Er, no, of course not. You're free to go."

Sharra didn't make any immediate move to leave, instead turning her attention fully to the woman. "And I presume that your interest or the nature of the sudden flurry of activity and unease on this station are strictly 'need to know' or other such nonsense?"

The woman said, "Come then, It may well be of interest to you, but let us speak of it in private. My office."

The commander looked fairly insulted but kept his mouth shut. The woman headed for the door with a smirk. Sharra offered a polite nod to the commander and moved to follow the newcomer, indeed interested even though it wasn't technically her business anymore.

Zillah likewise followed them out. The woman led them off quietly to another "office" which looked more like a war room or an armory than anywhere paper might get pushed around (or the digital equivalent thereof). She sealed the door behind them with a bit of a sigh.

"Well, if you haven't figured it out already, I am Jenna Jordan of the Empress's Own."

"Thank you," Sharra replied. "The question had crossed my mind since this isn't exactly my home sector. My name's Sharra Silverhair, of no particular affiliation, and I doubt that Zillah will require an introduction."

Jenna gave a faint smile and a nod in her general direction. "Though it's nice to see someone's looking after my baby sister." She chuckled softly. "The matter at hand, however, appears to be of a rather... religious nature."

Sharra's muzzle wrinkled in distaste. "Then the unease around here would definitely seem to be merited. Nothing worse than fanatics of one religious faction or another when it comes to causing trouble."

"All of the priests of the Primos, Cybions, Glyphans... appear to have gone mad overnight..." Jenna said. "Even the Urians have gone more mad than usual. We've been trying to figure out just what happened to cause this sudden change, and the only thing we could discover was the Euphorians being a bit more euphoric than usual about things."

"So what connection is being pursued in regards to Abram Jordan?" Sharra asked, a smirk surfacing. "It's pretty unusual procedure to haul people off for questioning right from landing, there's clearly something suspected in that direction."

"Two ships entered the Epsilon system one week ago, their markings identifying them as belonging to Emily and our father," Jenna said. "Approximately one week after the strangeness with the priests, which is almost exactly the time it takes to travel from another universe using the Darknova's jump drive."

"So he found her," Sharra mused, then considered the timing and sighed. "Now I could wish I'd killed this Nihilian before allowing Abram to take him off on the pursuit. Damn."

"They didn't stay in the system long enough to catch them but we did get some interior scans from the station's sensors," Jenna said, smirking a bit. "Those sensors were originally intended to study the wormholes... Well, both ships had one others on board. One was a man wearing some sort of armor, Chaos-style I believe, the other had... well, some sort of demon we think."

Sharra sighed and projected an image of Nihilian, "This man, by chance?"

Jenna gave a short nod. "The same one from the recording from Tibet, no doubt, but the recording and sensor reading weren't the highest quality images one might hope for."

"I can provide you with full recordings of the encounter on Tibet," Sharra replied. "Including the ship sensor logs that listened to their prior conversation and drew my attention. Something dealing with a faction called the World Eaters." She growled softly, mostly at herself for allowing a flicker of faith in another person's intentions despite recent evidence to the contrary.

"It would be helpful, if there's _any_ clue as to what might have happened," Jenna said with a sigh.

"Something to do with Emily and your gods," Sharra replied, selecting the relevant recordings from storage and transferring them to a datapad. "Msr. Jordan was going on about some kind of imbalance and how she was the key."

And look what that led to, she mused with bitter self-recrimination, then firmly set it aside for more practical considerations as she passed the datapad to Jenna.

Jenna frowned deeply as she ran over the recordings. "No, he couldn't have... could he?" she murmured, and shook her head. "Oh, this is not good. Not good at all."

Sharra didn't ask, waiting patiently as the woman examined the recordings from the perspective of a native. There'd be work ahead, of that she had little doubt.

Jenna finished up and put the datapad down and started pacing about the room, more like stalking really. "If he's found some way to ... to destroy them? That would explain the priests, maybe... Maybe."

"Gods certainly aren't immune to destruction," Sharra remarked, though some were essentially beyond any conventional or supernatural reach. Plenty of lesser or even middle-tier ones had been exterminated throughout the history of the Three Galaxies... just another level of existence, at least to a point.

"I don't know how he managed it, but judging by the reactions, something happened to all but the god of the Euphorians... and by all their wild celebrations, that must have been some kind of victory for that one... Not that the Euphorians ever needed a reason to celebrate."

"So you're looking at several groups of insane cult priests who may or may not recover and return to normal life, or more likely find themselves drawn to the service of the remaining deity," Sharra said, putting the mundane situation in its simplest terms and leaving the metaphysical alone. That wasn't her field, and she certainly wasn't equipped to handle it.

"Not to mention Emily, Abram, and their cohorts are still at large and free to do whatever they please that I don't doubt we won't like either," Jenna replied dryly.

"If they're traveling in the company of a demon," Sharra said, "Or at _least_ one, I should say, then tracking and removing the threat is likely to prove quite problematical indeed. Happen to have any psionic or magic-wielding agents running around? They're the ones most ideally suited for dealing with that sort of creature, along with a solid core of more physical defenders to deal with the mundane dangers."

"Suspected demon," Jenna corrected. "We weren't too sure, as it didn't really have the classical wings and horns and the like, but it was a best guess based on what little prior experience we had had with Chaos's forces."

"Suspected demon then," Sharra replied, "though it'll be wise to work with that as an assumption rather than being caught unprepared. Anyway," she folded her arms, fingers tapping lightly, "The apparent cause of the disturbance is identified, the likely suspects are known, the question then becomes what the local enforcement arms are going to do about it."

"It tends up falling to me, really," Jenna said. "That's my job, after all. They could be anywhere by now, though..." Jenna tapped her chin thoughtfully.

"I'd suggest at least taking a look at Tibet," Sharra said. "Abram seemed somewhat fond of the place and his companions, as well as one of his children being resident there. Beyond that it's going to be a galactic scale hit and miss."

"We already checked Tibet and are in contact with the place, they weren't foolish enough to go straight back there," Jenna said. "Somewhere in the fringe worlds, I suspect... There's a lot of 'uncharted' settlements, but the rebel database has most of them and I have access to all of that."

Sharra nodded. "Then you certainly have your work cut out for you. May want to check with any other intelligence resources you may have scattered around, even the El'dari that showed up to lend a hand at Tibet. Who knows where else they may have shown up."

"And what of you?" Jenna asked. "Going to go off to some nice quiet little planet somewhere?" She smirked. "I don't know you very well, but I can't imagine a sister of mine would be flying around with someone that didn't let her get into some degree of 'interesting' activity."

Sharra smiled blandly. "I'm just a civilian here. I doubt the Empire would take kindly to my interfering in an ongoing investigation pertaining to disturbances in their own space."

That didn't mean she was going to let this slide, not by any stretch of the imagination, in fact she planned to be away from this station as quickly as possible and looking into the thing in the fringe worlds.

Jenna chuckled softly. "You'd be surprised. Death Dancer or no, I'm not foolish enough to think that I can scour the galaxy on my own, never mind fight them by myself."

Sharra dropped the act, accepting the woman's words for now. "Nor do I plan to remain idle. I'm going to see about a ship I had commissioned, then set out hunting..." She added grimly, "I did have some small measure of involvement in things getting to this point, after all." Damn him...

Jenna gave a nod, and said, "I'd fly with you, if you'd not mind. Can't stand this desk work."

"If you like," Sharra replied. "Though I'll admit to some surprise that you don't have transport waiting already." She tilted her head in a shrug and headed for the door.

"That's a bit of a long and fairly painful story," Jenna said with a sad smile as she followed them out. "I'm glad enough to still be alive..."


	2. Looking for Emily

Sharra led the way back to the landing bay at a brisk pace, if her acknowledgement hadn't been clear enough statement of intent her energetic business-like approach would have done it without words.

"Everyone has at least one," Sharra replied along the way. "All part of the contract we get handed with life."

"Heh. I'll tell you about it along the way, if you like," Jenna said as they momentarily reach the docking bay. "Transylvania I presume?"

"We'll have plenty of hours ahead for it, I'm sure," Sharra chuckled, cycling the hatch and climbing into the Darknova. "And yes, we're headed for Transylvania." She looked over at Zillah. "Have you put any thought into what you want to do with your ship?"

Zillah said, "I hadn't really thought about it, no."

They also climbed inside. Jenna took a seat in back and Zillah took the pilot's seat and proceeded to run through launch.

Sharra settled into a seat and let Zillah do her thing, casually monitoring the process as always. "Give it some thought," she said, "We can arrange for some storage space if you want more time to make a decision. Oh..." she grinned, "May also want to think about what to name the new ship, only fitting for one coming straight out of the docks."

Zillah opened up a wormhole to Transylvania and headed through. "I don't know... Hadn't really thought about that either..."

Jenna chuckled softly.

"You've had other things on your mind," Sharra chuckled. "But vacation time's over, and it's time to get back into your normal schedule. We've got a little time until we get there, should be long enough to come up with an idea or two."

Jenna leaned back and took a deep breath and let it out. "I was off in the Elkandu Universe some while back, in Torn Elkandu. They were having a big competition sort of thing there and it was interesting to watch..."

Sharra swivelled her seat to look back at the woman, listening attentively as she began the tale and monitoring their progress through her link, ever watchful.

"Well, as it turns out, some of the natives of that universe are of a slightly precipitous and violent nature. Not to mention their magical abilities..."

Sharra chuckled lightly, "I know how _that_ goes."

"Oh, yes. And not only did they see fit to dismember me and burn me half to death, they didn't even have the common courtesy to finish me off either and left me there to die," Jenna said with a snort.

Which would account for the high percentage of cybernetic and bionic replacement, Sharra mused silently.

"I'll tell you it took some creativity to get back to my ship and back to the Karzan Galaxy." She smirked.

"The return seems to have suited you well," Sharra remarked, "Physically as well as occupationally."

"Oh, the Cybions did their job well enough, to be sure," Jenna said, rolling her eyes. "But they kind of charged an arm and a leg for.. well... Suffice it to say I didn't have the credits to pay for it. They took my ship and were about to force me into some sort of slavery."

Sharra really couldn't say too much about that, as her own conversion had required a lengthy service contract. There was something unethical about the nature of the way the Cybion's went about things, though, and she liked them less and less as time went on. Voluntary service was one thing, compulsory for reconstruction was... repulsive.

"Mm," Sharra muttered, "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Thankfully, though, the Empress Talia gave me a better option," Jenna said.

"She seemed a reasonable and respectable sort," Sharra said, "I suppose that this option entailed the reformation of the unit you claim association with."

Jenna raised an eyebrow and said, "What do you mean?"

Sharra chuckled and shrugged faintly. "Better offers tend to include some request tied to them, particularly where politics are concerned. Though, in fairness, the Empress didn't seem favorably inclined toward the Cybions and I could easily see her doing it just for spite."

Jenna tapped the signet ring on her finger. "Of course there was, but one I was happy enough to take. The Empress's Own are not a position I could much complain about."

Sharra nodded. "That's what I assumed. What little of them I've researched left a favorable impression, I doubt that tradition will change under the new Empress."

Jenna nodded in agreement. "It's a lot of responsibility to be sure, not to mention risk, but then I didn't become a Death Dancer to sit around peacefully farming."

"No, I don't suppose you did," Sharra chuckled.

Sharra mentally drew up a map from the Darknova's computers of the fringe worlds and computed various search patterns they could follow. There was a lot of space out there, and who knew what their targets might be up to in the meantime? She sighed inwardly and drew up the sensor reading from the ship they'd seen when they left Tibet since she could guess who had been flying it. It did, of course, match the markings of Abram's Darknova, unsurprisingly.

Jenna proceeds to go into a detailed discussion about how the Empress's Own works. They were the agents of the Empress herself, and answerable only to the Empress, and because of that they had quite a bit of authority and could get access to any information, location, equipment that they required, and while they didn't have the authority to actually order around the military or civilian governments, their suggestions were generally heeded. But likewise, when the Empress said she wanted them to go do something, they really couldn't refuse, and any abuse of their authority wasn't generally met with kindly.

Sharra listened politely and made an encouraging or acknowledging comment where appropriate, the organization sounding much akin to what the Quattoria had been if limited in a few ways. There were several logical patterns they could search outward along, but it was still going to take some time and increase the likelihood that their targets would slip past in the vastness of space.

Jenna said, "I figure they might end up stopping at one of the Euphorian colonies, or one of the hidden 'secret' bases they think nobody actually knows about," Jenna said.

"That would seem a logical course for them to take," Sharra agreed. "But I don't think that logic is all that we can rely on here, there's always a random chaotic factor when dealing with the underbelly of any sector."

She didn't know what they might be up to, and that worried her more than anything else... and if insanity was involved, any logic was right out the door.

"Indeed," Jenna agreed. "And if they learn we're searching for them... they probably won't be too surprised, but anyway..."

"Oh there's no doubt that they're going to expect someone to be looking for them," Sharra agreed. "Otherwise they wouldn't have passed through Epsilon so quickly. The question is what level of pursuit they'll anticipate and how they might prepare for it or seek to avoid it. I don't know enough about the personalities involved to make an educated guess as to whether they'll go to ground or set up a defensive position someplace."

Jenna pondered for a moment, and said, "It would be much easier if the various base commanders could be convinced to send some notification if they're seen, but I doubt they'd be that cooperative. Especially the ones most likely to follow them. Yes, I do think they'd most likely go somewhere that would follow them and listen to them..."

"As good a place to look as any other," Sharra replied, "though a core of solid support will make finding any information difficult at best and highly dangerous at worst." She chuckled softly. "After recent encounters, I wouldn't put a 'shoot on sight' order out of the question where I was concerned at least." Damn... she sighed inwardly.

"So we'll have to pull out the funny glasses with the fake noses," Jenna said with a smirk. "At least if it's a new ship, they don't immediately recognize the markings on sight as so-called 'Imperial scum' or their 'lapdogs'." She snorted softly.

"The ship will certainly help," Sharra nodded. "Especially a design they've never seen before. How long that slim advantage exists will depend on what we find and how quickly we can track them. No telling until we get out there."

"Makes me almost envy the Elkandu and their Seekers..." Jenna muttered. "Some of the things they were doing at that competition were rather impressive. Then again, some of the things going on at said competition were fairly bleeding insane..."

"May not be the quickest way," Sharra replied. "But it's a relatively efficient one. I don't suppose there are others of your association out there working specific sectors? It would cut down redundancy to coordinate with them if there are."

Jenna gave a nod. "Many of them are a bit hard to contact due to lack of real long-range communications in some of the more remote planets, but some certainly could be."

"No commercial subspace relays or military hyperfold systems available?" Sharra asked, that wasn't particularly welcome news as communication tended to be a vital part of any organized effort.

"The independent worlds had widely varying degrees of cooperation during the war," Jenna explained. "Some of which were very isolationist even to the point of xenophobia. Others just wanted to be left the hell alone to do what they pleased..."

"Then we'll just have to work on the premise that we're the first to pursue any particular lead or investigating a sector," Sharra said, clearly not pleased with it but not having any real options that would resolve the problem without a good deal more time than they had at the moment.

Jenna nodded. "The Empress wanted me to get to the bottom of this... But I'll doubt we'll run into anything too helpful out there. And I doubt half the planets will even recognize my authority, so probably better to just not mention that part." She sighed.

Sharra chuckled. "I'm just a civilian, remember? No reason to even think that any government or agency is going to lend a hand when things go bad. On another note, though, may want to ditch the uniforms for a bit if you want to remain low-profile. I'm obvious enough that they might well ignore the two of you if you're mundane."

Jenna nodded. "Probably a good idea. Though it's hard to mistake the bearing of a Death Dancer if you know what to look for..." She shrugged.

"The rare skilled and observant watcher can be dealt with when the problem arises," Sharra said. "The faceless masses provide a bigger threat in the long run, just through sheer numbers. Factor them out and you can focus on the more important things."

Jenna nodded. "And out on the fringe, it's not too hard to pass as just another pirate, smuggler, or other various galactic scum."

"Hmm, if I'm going to play the standout," Sharra mused. "Maybe I should go the full route..."

"Some of them even go all out and wear eyepatches and silly hats just because they can..." Jenna sniggered softly.

"Oh, I won't go that far," Sharra smirked. "But there's a few things I can do to make myself a little more... exotic in appearance. Yes, I think that will work well, overall, and allow me to go fully armed."

Jenna chuckled softly and gave a nod. "So what sort of ship did you commission, anyway?"

Sharra projected an image of the ship the design was being based on. "Something like this," she said, "And commissioned for all the bells and whistles that could possibly be incorporated into the design. I'll be interested to see what he came up with."

Jenna took a look over the design and said, "Hmm, that's intriguing, I've never seen anything quite like that before..."

"Not surprising," Sharra replied. "One of many unusual designs that developed in the Three Galaxies. I don't think there's a lot of crossover from there to here, the only mapped wormhole is a helljump."

"A what?" Jenna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Unstable wormhole, I think they call them here," Sharra chuckled. "It's an old tag from the Survey fleet since taking one of them was about as safe as taking a jump into hell. Never a really popular discovery, but there's always some glory-hound dying to ride the hyperwaves to check them out."

"Ah, I see," Jenna said. "Yeah, there's always a few Death Dancers around here who occasionally feel adventurous and then never come back." She smirked.

Sharra shrugged. "Even stable rifts aren't always safe. There've been ones that were just as deadly simply because they opened up onto extremely hostile worlds. Those generally ended up getting shut down."

"What do you mean, shut down?" Jenna asked, confused. "Like nobody using them?"

"As in closed," Sharra said. "There's mages who specialize in the theory and practice of the things, and when one opens up that's too dangerous or just not useful they can close them again. They're endlessly looking for new dimensions to link to for one reason or another."

Jenna blinked a bit and said, "Okay, that's odd." She smirked. "Although I'd suppose it'd theoretically be possible since they managed to _create_ the things when they made the jumpgate network..."

Sharra looked at Jenna in question. "You mean that's not the norm here? Then again I suppose it makes sense considering what I've seen, it's not like the things are all over the place like they are back in the Three Galaxies. The core worlds have literally thousands of the things leading to different dimensions. It keeps the mages happily busy."

"Not really. There's only around a dozen of them in most systems and only three or four of those might be stable enough for general use, generally just leading off to the next system. We used it as a cheap method of interstellar travel up until the jump drives were developed. Epsilon's got a few hundred of them, though..."

"Well, rifts are a little different than wormholes," Sharra said. "They're more like the warp gates that connect some of the systems here. You _can_ take hyperspace from one part of the three galaxies to another, or to one of the other dimensions, but why bother when there's a system in place that will get you there instantly and without the risk of pirates or other dangers?"

"Sounds like a very strange place..." Jenna murmured, shrugging. "Though when I was in the Elkandu Universe, I noticed that they had one place with a 'Nexus' to connect different places together, supposedly you could use to go anywhere, and there were portals all around Torn Elkandu to different planets and universes... but I picked up very few wormholes or the like in space and found no record of such..."

"Each of the universes I've encountered has been significantly different," Sharra said. "That's why I asked about the communications net. The system in the Three Galaxies is designed for instantaneous communications through all the linked sectors, even relaying messages through the medium of the rifts to the outlying dimensions. It's strange to have such limited options."

"The cybernet is the most efficient means of communication around here," Jenna said. "I've no idea how it works at the technical level, but most Cybions have a commlink that connects them into it and lets them instantaneously communicate over any distance, even to other universes as we've recently discovered."

"Provided the intended receiver doesn't have it turned off to shut out the general babble," Sharra said dryly, grinning over in Zillah's direction.

"Well, messages intended for a specific recipient are generally given higher priority than general messages. It's not too difficult to shut out general chatter and allow for personal messages still," Jenna said. "Thankfully for my own sanity."

"Do you have general specifications on accessing the network?" Sharra asked. "It may well be possible that my own augmentation could access it, a worthwhile experiment even if it requires some internal modification." Any changes could likely be performed by the nanites which infused her construction, she mused silently.

Jenna brought up the specifications for the technology and the frequencies it worked on. Apparently it was even possible to access the network using normal ship communicators, but for optimal performance it was ideal for cybernetics to interpret and sort the data.

Sharra activated the link and examined the dataflow thoughtfully, then set filters into place to eliminate the majority of traffic with only a few flags set for mentions of specific information that might prove useful in their current situation.

"Simple enough," Sharra said, "And a valuable asset should discreet communication be needed."

"Indeed," Jenna said. "I've heard tell of some people using it as sort of a cheap replacement for telepathy. Though in my experience it tends to be more useful and reliable than it anyway..."

"Psionics are not an options," Sharra chuckled. "But this will definitely be a suitable alternative seeing as both of you are equipped with the devices required."

On a popular cybernet blog site, someone had apparently posted a journal entry complaining about Emily being a crazy bitch and wanting to work everyone like slaves. "This is so stupid," whined the poster, "Why do I have to do this crap for her?"

"Now that's interesting," Sharra murmured, glad she'd left a few flags out there for hints of things like this.

She shifted her attention to the site in question and started poking around for any more information that might lend a clue. Registration would undoubtedly be false, but everyone mentioned something about their environment that gave clues to the alert observer.

The post was apparently made by someone named "midnightraven666", who, judging by the personal information entered, was 16 years old and thought himself very "elite".

Sharra smirked and shook her head as she dug deeper, sending the site's location to Jenna as well so the woman could take a look and see if there was anything that Sharra might otherwise miss as an outsider.

Jenna hmmed a bit at it and said, "I might be able to get something more out of it..." She proceeded to try to trace the location of the poster, but couldn't quite manage to do so. She grumbled a bit and said, "Let's go over his previous journal entries and see if he mentioned anything about where he is, even a description... If he complains about every damned thing he must have said something..."

"That was my thought as well," Sharra said, and that was what she'd been doing for a little while now and trying to avoid being overwhelmed with the occasional snicker or laugh at the whining note of the poster. "If nothing else there may be some link to other posters or sites that may give a clue," she added absently and continued to search.

Midnightraven666 was, apparently, an annoying and spoiled teenage brat who got implants for his birthdays from his mother, who was a wealthy merchant. He, however, in trying to be hip, ended up with a bad crowd and on the fringe worlds, in the middle of backwater nowhere.

Sharra continued to scour through for any other hints or references, marking the relationship between mother and child as a possible avenue to explore if nothing else more concrete can be located. Failing all else, a data-intensive search to find possible sources of the implants and cross-referencing them to narrow possibilities might be in order... painful and mind-numbing, but that was often half the work.

He did mention a number of planets that he'd been to lately, primarily in bitching about them. Tracing a line along them, one would indicate that he was somewhere in the northwest part of the galaxy. He did not, however, directly mention the name of the base he was at right now, but it was clearly not a habitable planet as he mentioned biodomes.

"That gives us something to work with, at least," Sharra muttered, tagging the little emo's blog for future reference and monitoring. "Narrowing the search by known planets with biodomes specifically as environmental support will bring that to an even smaller number."

Apparently, the reason he was afraid to mention the place he was at until he was long gone from there was because he was afraid his mother would send someone to track him down for being worried about her precious little boy. He seemed to think she was over-protective and didn't understand him.

Sharra shook her head and sighed, closing the connection for now. "Will they never learn? Is it better to live among the dregs of society and fear for your existence on a day to day basis or be in an environment where you're overseen and protected? Too many bodies would argue for the latter."

Jenna snorted softly. "Well, at least he's given us the best lead we've come across so far. Judging by the direction and time from his last known location and the presence of the biodomes, that about narrows it down to three or four systems..."

"And do any of them coincide with known or suspected Euphorian or other similar faction habitation?" Sharra asked.

Jenna shook her head. "No, they're all just listed as being general scum, although there's probably a fair few Euphorians, Urians, and the like around them since they tend to gravitate to those sorts of places."

"Well it's still considerably better than what we had to go with to start out," Sharra replied and stretched, then eased back in her seat thoughtfully. "Though I do have to wonder what exactly we may face if we _do_ find them. Mucking about with elder gods, lesser or greater, tends to make for some pretty unpleasant surprises."

"Probably a whole heap of trouble," Jenna commented. "It's so difficult to be an atheist anymore."

Sharra chuckled lightly. "Not really, just because they exist and you know it doesn't mean you have to follow any of them. Far as I've seen it's generally a good idea _not_ to for the most part, it's when things out of the dark corners of the universe start taking notice of you that you have to worry."

"Then again, it's not like I can send a message to Empress Talia saying, 'This is too dangerous! I don't wanna do it!'" Jenna sniggered softly.

Sharra smirked. "I wouldn't even need to do that. Not that I'm going to avoid the damn thing anyway." It kept coming back to that, and would have, could have, should have... damn him.

Jenna nodded in agreement. She proceeded to go over relevant records and notes on the cybernet in hopes of coming up with more information as they complete their journey to Transylvania.

Sharra returned to the search as well in hopes of refining their available data as well as to keep the useless spiral of thought at bay. The numbing task would serve well for the remainder of the trip.

Some while later, they emerged from hyperspace and Zillah piloted them in toward the Dracula Shipyard quietly.

Sharra emerged from the cybernet link as they entered the system and monitored their path, responding as needed to get a landing vector. With luck, Msr. Fowler would have everything prepared and be available to conclude the transaction.


	3. Fringe World Hunt

Zillah docked the ship and they climbed out. Zillah stretched a bit. "That ship looked really neat," she said. "I hope he's finished with it!"

Sharra grinned, the girl's enthusiasm sparking her own. "I hope so. Let's go see."

She stopped by a terminal to make sure that the builder was in residence, or if not where he might be found, then headed for the location. It listed him as being in construction bay 12, working on a special project. When they arrived there, they saw several people working diligently on a vessel which was clearly not quite complete.

"Msr. Fowler," Sharra called out when there was no clear and immediate threat of startling and causing an accident.

"Ah, hello, hello again," he said, looking up from a datapad displaying specifications and going over to her with a small smile. "I'm afraid your ship is not quite ready yet. We have encountered some minor difficulties in various matters relating to obtaining sufficient luminite, as it appears that someone has stolen some of our stores."

"Not a problem," Sharra replied. "Do you have a revised estimate?"

"No, no, it's not your fault. We should have it completed for the aforementioned price in the next few days. I already have some Death Dancers tracking down the stolen crystals, so don't you worry about that."

"Very well," Sharra nodded. "I can't guarantee that I'll be immediately available for delivery, but if you have access to the cybernet you can send a message and I'll come as soon as possible."

"Certainly, we shall make sure we have it finished as soon as possible!"

"Thank you." Sharra smiled, nodded, then left the man to his work, chuckling softly as they left the bay. "Well so much for that."

Jenna snorted softly. "Takes a lot of gall to steal luminite from _here_... Crazy pirates."

"Not necessarily pirates," Sharra replied, heading back to the landing bay. "The timing is entirely too coincidental considering that there's apparently some sort of detailed construction going on elsewhere."

"That's also a distinct possibility, yeah," Jenna said, frowning.

"Angles were part of my job description, as well as rampant paranoia." Sharra chuckled, unsealing the Darknova and climbing back in. "It's a survival trait. Anyway," she waved toward the cockpit, "You two get us moving while I make a few changes in preparation of our little outing."

"Where are we going?" Jenna wondered. "To one of those bases?"

"We may as well, no sense in waiting around here for the problem to be resolved," Sharra replied. "I made a substantial down-payment to Msr. Fowler. I doubt he'll complain bitterly if we end up being late." Dead, now that was another matter, but one that was just a normal fact of life.

Jenna nodded, and they climbed in and took off, heading out to a little backwater planet called Alabama. It was uncertain just why it was called that, as the main planet there wasn't even habitable and was currently being terraformed by a small group of scientists who apparently attracted a large group of people trying to avoid notice.

Sharra took the intervening time to change her appearance, removing the syntheskin and reshaping the liquid metal of her construction. She emerged as they near the planet, all shiny metal and looking more feline than canid, her eyes a coldly glittering blue with faint lines of circuitry etched into their surface. The weapon arms of the tri-barrel multis were socketed at her waist and the lethal guns swivelled back and upward to settle into niches in her back as she moved into the cockpit.

"Anything of interest?" she asked casually, her voice a deeper, silky tone as she leaned over to take a look at the sensors, long tail curling back and forth restlessly.

Jenna looked over her with a bit of an eyebrow but made no comment. "Nothing too out of the ordinary is coming up on sensors," she said. "Just your typical cesspool of galactic scum. Let's put down and see if we can pick up anything on the rumor mill, then."

"Sounds good," Sharra agreed, taking a final look at the sensors and then settling into a seat for landing. "Any information on this little slice of paradise, or just the usual?"

Jenna ran down a basic description of the place. Carbon dioxide atmosphere (it's fairly Mars-like, although somewhat larger), the base itself being a reasonably frequent place to buy and sell contraband and stolen goods.

"Ah, the usual then," Sharra purred a chuckle. "I should be just exotic and expensive-looking enough to draw a little attention without being too terribly obvious while you two look around."

Zillah set them down in the docking area which wasn't even being actively monitored at the moment, and they climbed out. Over the trip, they had changed into the more usual style of raggedy civilian clothing one might expect to find on the fringe.

"Time to go on the prowl," Sharra murred and moved off to see what could be found in this little den of scum and villainy. They were cliche, perhaps, but a bar would be one of the best places to catch people gathered, and maybe drunk enough to let slip something they shouldn't.

There were a good number of people crowded in the little bar, and clearly of a lower quality of denizen than those found on Epsilon Station, as well as it was clear that replicator technology hadn't made it out this far yet, in fact it was questionable if plumbing had judging by their state of unwash.

Just the type it would be easy to draw into hard labor, Sharra mused as she stalked into the place and looked around for an empty or relatively untenanted table. Now, the question to ask here would be whether the outworlders were merely likely fodder or active participants.

She managed to find a vacant chair, primarily vacated by a scrawny guy who backed the hell away from her rather than mess with her. There wasn't, however, any mention of Emily or the others she was with around here.

Sharra settled in to wait for a while, observing the locals with carefully studied cool disdain. The object was to be noticed, enough to draw attention away from the others and perhaps draw some other form of speculative interest as well. She didn't hold much hope for this place providing much in the way of information, but they could certainly afford a few hours.

The barkeep was a bald man with large, triangular ears and a canine snout... he looked rather like a large chihuahua. "Hey, you there!" he barked at her. "Can I get you something or are ya just gonna sit there all day?"

"Keep your swill, I'll pay the cover," Sharra replied coolly, showing not the least inclination to move just yet. She wouldn't trust outworld booze even if she _was_ inclined to drink.

He snorted and went back to shoving his beverages off on people who'd actually drink them with varying degrees of distaste. However, she heard absolutely nothing of interest.

Sharra shifted directional hearing from one group to another, listening and occasionally yawning to reveal slender, inch-long fangs. When a few hours had passed without any change or likely hope of it, she left as silently as she came.

Back at the ship, Jenna rolled her eyes and said, "Well, that was a pointless waste of time. Nothing. Well, at least we know where they _haven't_ been..."

"Still worthwhile information in its own right," Sharra replied, returning to her seat to lounge with lazy grace. "We can mark this system off the search and head for the next, hopefully for a bit better luck."

Jenna gave a nod and said, "It's something I guess." A message popped up on the cybernet for her stating that her ship would be complete in about two hours, although they hadn't really tested to make sure it fully worked yet.

Sharra sent a message back, telling them to take their time and make sure things were in working order. She'd rather wait a little longer than find out at exactly the wrong moment that some system or another was experiencing a catastrophic failure.

"So what lovely system's next on our itinerary?" Sharra asked.

"Next up is the Texas system," Jenna said as they head out. "Desert planet, average temperatures of 200 degrees Fahrenheit, sounds like a lovely place."

"I've hunted through worse," Sharra replied. "Only really have to start worrying on sunward hellworlds with temps in the thousands. Bad news." She settled in for the trip, pulling up what the computer had to say about their next destination.

"Apparently it wasn't bad enough to prevent them from putting a colony on the planet. Bet they hope their air conditioning never breaks..."

"Harsh environment settlers tend to be very careful about that sort of thing," Sharra chuckled. "Either that or the next batch moves in and has to clean up what's left."

They flew on, Zillah doing some reading up on terraforming on the way there with a bit of music running. It was pretty quiet for the moment. Too quiet. Traveling was hours or days of quiet interspersed with the occasional few minutes of life-threatening danger, that was just the way things worked. Sharra remained watchful of the sensors and their progress, as always, but otherwise remained calm and generally bored by it.

So, after some while, they arrived at planet Texas. Things appeared fairly normal here as well, no obvious signs of the ones they were looking for, and Zillah set them down at the landing area. Sharra rose, stretched, and headed for the hatch.

"Let's see what our next lovely batch of outworlders turns out to be like," Sharra said.

A few quotes ran through her mind as she climbed out and waited for the others before sealing the ship again behind them.

Unlike Alabama, however, they actually know something about what was going on nearby. Someone passing by coming out of a ship meeting up with someone else says, "Hey, man, good to see you. Did you hear the crazy shit going down in Tijuana? It's mad I tell you..."

Sharra focused her hearing on the conversation, moving as needed to remain within range of amplification. Either they were complaining of the usual run of events that outworlders inevitably found fascinating or there was something much more pertinent to their current investigation.

As the two of them were heading for the local bar, it was not too difficult to inconspicuously follow them. But apparently, it did indeed seem to be Emily that he was going off about. She apparently directed the inhabitants of the planet to build a large temple to one god or another.

Sharra continued to the bar, intent on seeing what other little tidbits might be garnered about the situation in the Tijuana system. It was always wise to have more than just a target to head for before diving blindly off, even something suggesting a method of approach other than rushing in would be a wonderful starting point.

It was apparently quite the cesspit of scum, smugglers and pirates, Urians and Euphorians, and the like. The ones who knew about what was going on there, however, had no idea why.

Sharra listened for a while, less interested in a reason why than potential avenues for approaching the system in some manner other than blithely swinging in unannounced and unwelcomed. Things like that were a wonderful way to get captured or sent to the breakers.

The outworlders, however, didn't have any light to shed on that particular issue, probably figuring it a moot point or just not bothering about it at the moment seeing as he preferred to be away from there rather than think about how he might go back there.

Sharra left after a while longer, at least knowing where the source of the problem likely resided. The rest would be a step by step approach to the system. Zillah and Jenna didn't find out anything especially useful themselves, though.

Sharra settled in back at the ship and leaned back to consider the problem. "I don't know about you two, but I'm somewhat leery of ambling blindly into a system that clearly has enough control going for our targets that other systems in the vicinity are not only aware of but making no hint of resistance to harsh commands. Comments?"

"Maybe we should head back to Transylvania in the meantime and make sure the ship's all ready first," Zillah said.

"Couldn't hurt," Sharra replied.

"And see about what other information we can dredge up on Tijuana over the cybernet," Jenna added.

Sharra nodded and settled in for the return trip, checking to see what information could be dredged up on the system.

Quite the cheerful place, really, judging by the postings on the cybernet, it was a great place to buy and sell drugs, apparently. There was a strong Euphorian presence there, but it wasn't actually run by the Euphorians, which was a good thing according to the net posts since the Euphorians were bad at actually running anything.

On the plus side, that would argue against a strong system-defense strategy, at least as long as the general state of anarchy applied. Aside from the prices she could expect to pay for various types of illegal drugs, there was little else to be found on the system. They arrived back in Transylvania uneventfully.

Sharra checked back in with the station terminal and headed out once again to find Msr. Fowler. Back in the construction bay she had been in before, the ship looked pretty well complete and the workers were running systems checks and final adjustments to make sure everything was in good working order.

"Ah, excellent, welcome back," he said. "Everything appears to be in order here, I hope you are quite pleased with it."

Sharra chuckled, "I'm sure I will be. Let's get the final payment out of the way and see about checking things out."

"Yes, yes, of course," he said, smiling.

He proceeded to run down a list of features he'd included, and apparently he included all the latest gizmos, including replicators, different types of weapons for different purposes, a state of the art cloaking device (he noted that since it worked off charged coronite, it wouldn't help if someone just looked out a window and might interfere with sensors), etc.

"It would appear you've done a remarkable job, I'm impressed," Sharra offered honestly, listening to the array of features with keen interest and approval. The ship would certainly prove useful in a variety of settings and situations.

He clearly took a good deal of pride in his work and was happy to show her around and demonstrate some of the features. Sharra paid close attention, absorbing the details of the tour and making note of the potential flexibility designed in the craft. She was quite pleased indeed.

When he was through, he said, "Is there anything else which we missed which you would like included?"

"As long as all systems are neural-link capable," Sharra replied. "I can't think of a single thing offhand that you might have missed or, with the restrictions of the craft type managed to fit in. I wouldn't mind, for example, a superdreadnought class weaponry suite, but we all have to make small sacrifices." She chuckled.

He chuckled softly and assured her, "Oh, that's included, certainly, don't you worry. The neutral interface, that is, not the weaponry." He smirked.

"Tsk, I'm disappointed," Sharra shook her head. "And here I was beginning to think you were capable of miracles. Ah well, such is life." She chuckled. "Alright, looks like everything's ready and in order then, and I thank you for your elegant creation of a rather nebulous design idea."

He gave an elegant bow and went to head off for a much deserved break.

Sharra walked slowly around the ship, appreciating the design with an eye that'd seen many ships come and again. She glanced over at Zillah and quirked a grin, "So what's the name you've chosen? Can't leave docking without it."

"Um..." Zillah said, clearly not having thought much more about it.

Jenna elbowed her gently and said, "Sorry, but the 'S. S. Um' is not a good name." She winked.

"We can gather a few things from the Darknova and you can think it over on the way," Sharra chuckled. Not that there was really that much to transfer over, but it still had to be done.

Zillah nodded, and went to head back to it, thinking pensively about a decent name for the ship.

All Sharra really had to collect was her locker, though she grabbed Zillah's as well for ease of transport. Other than that, sealing the Darknova when things were ready, and they'd be set to head back in search of Tijuana.

They followed along, Zillah thinking hard enough that one might almost hear gears turning in her head, sticking her tongue out and looking cross-eyed.

Sharra didn't intrude on Zillah's obvious attempts at trying to resolve the problem, remaining silent as they work their way back to the new ship. The curl and sway of her now-felinoid tail betray a hint of her silent amusement though.

Jenna smirked as well.

Zillah finally blurted out, "Firefly!"

Sharra looked as if she was considering that critically, then chuckled and climbed aboard. "Firefly it is, then. Appropriate somehow," she mused, stowing the lockers and moving to settle in and perform a few standard pre-flight checks.

Zillah bounced around cheerfully. "I saw them when I went to Balzac one time, they were all neat and flying around but I could never catch them..."

Sharra laughed. "Then a good omen indeed for a name! Much better to remain uncaught and unflattened, wouldn't you say?"

Zillah giggled, and they climb aboard and get settled in. It was certainly a good deal roomier in the main section than a Darknova, to be sure.

"Now to see how this delightful creation handles in space," Sharra said. "Take your time to familiarize yourself with any differences, I'm going to examine the control and interface links with the outriders."

They proceeded to poke around a bit at things. Zillah proceeded to "test" the replicators a bit with tacos.

As long as everything didn't taste like chicken, Sharra was pretty certain that everything was about as good as it was going to get without actual flight and combat testing. The real 'fun' stuff. She did take a bit of time familiarizing herself and then the other two with the outriders, as well as the procedures for separation and re-docking.

Jenna snickered at Zillah and ran over some of that herself and assisted a bit with that. "Well, it doesn't look like it's going to be falling to pieces when we leave. Shall we give it a test flight?"

"Most definitely," Sharra replied. "I'm sure there's an area of space nearby set aside for similar testing, and if not we'll just have to make one. I'd like a chance to test the various weapon and defensive systems as well, Msr. Fowler put a lot of work and ingenuity into them and it's better to find any bugs now rather than later."

Jenna gave a nod. "There's an asteroid belt on the edge of the system nobody minds anyone making target practice of. We can head there."

According to sensors, this asteroid belt ranged from around what would have been the outer rocky planets in a normal system, but contained enough various matter to make up about three planets of that normal size.

"That will work nicely," Sharra agreed, "No one ever seems to mind when asteroids are reduced to smaller and less recognizable fragments..." she chuckled, "Unless there's a smelting and mining facility present."

Zillah finished munching on her taco and said, "Well, it tasted like a taco. Let's go."


	4. Tijuana Colony

They flew out to the asteroid belt to test out the new ship. The ship seemed to be in perfectly good working order, nothing to really complain about. Jenna was likewise a competent pilot, unsurprisingly.

Familiarization with the various unusual systems was the priority, particularly the division of forces and coordinating them in a reasonable and effective fashion. Sharra left the outriders for the two Death Dancers and stayed with the main body for now. Time enough later when they were reduced to a crew of two again to test her own hand at the smaller craft.

She was overall quite satisfied with the transaction and stored away a reminder to return to the domain of Msr. Fowler in future for design conceptualization to reality problems.

After some while of testing and practice with the new systems, Zillah asked, "Are we going to Tijuana now?"

"I think that's definitely in order," Sharra affirmed. "See what they're up to and whether it warrants intervention. The new design should provide an additional layer of camouflage, at least."

Zillah nodded, and they proceeded to get ready for the trip.

"Good a time as any to test the jump drives, too," Jenna added.

"Better now than when in need for a quick exit or pursuit," Sharra agreed. "Let's get to it then." 

They proceeded to activate the jump drive and opened a wormhole to the Tijuana system. Once they were inside, Zillah settled in to check the recent cybernet postings for any further information they might find on current events on Tijuana.

Sharra took advantage of the time to check her own systems as well as monitoring the Firefly's performance, then made a routine examination of private weapons and configured modes. It was a tactic that kept the mind busy on a low, steady level to prevent it turning to far into certain paths of thought.

"They're building a temple," Zillah said after a bit, bringing up some visuals she'd found of it. The people in the image didn't look too happy, and the temple appeared fairly large and ornate with various symbols and motifs about different things.

Sharra looked up from her checked on one of the multis, odd eyes flickering. "Not exactly behavior that would seem to indicate an armed intervention," she mused. "Even if they are using heavy-handed methods to get the job done." Whether that remained true was yet to be seen, however.

"Hmm, interesting," Zillah mused. There was a note that said that they were commanded to build a temple to Sheniro, and pretty well confirmed their suspicions about him taking the powers of the other gods.

Sharra wasn't familiar with the gods of this place and did a bit of absent poking around to get more information on them. What she finds wasn't particularly reassuring and added another shadow to her silent thoughts, but still didn't necessarily support an instant and violent reaction. The various factions had been around for quite some time, and while the Euphorians might be personally repugnant...

She will wait and see, and do what she thought was the right thing when it came down to it. Choice warred ever with compulsion, and whether the situation threatened to grow beyond reasonable bounds would dictate a course of action... or inaction.

Zillah grimaced a bit as she came across some recent Glyphan poetry with regards to Sheniro, a sort of "epic poem" greatly exaggerating how he came to be in his position of power. The writer certainly had quite the imagination.

"What is your Empress' interest in this matter, precisely?" Sharra asked of Jenna, "Beyond the possibility of a hostile and violent uprising, of course. The nature of the faction involved wouldn't seem to imply the level of threat that a more... bloody-minded religion might."

"She doesn't trust them and wanted me to get to the bottom of things and find out what they were doing and what happened with the poor priests," Jenna said. "Not that I'm especially fond of Primos myself, either, but that was a bit much what happened to them."

"Trust in gods and take that risk," Sharra said, smirking faintly as she ran one of the multis through a series of pre-programmed configurations. "I would have thought that Abram would have recognized their fickle nature through his own experience."

After a couple hours, they emerged in the Tijuana system. The colony in question was based on the fifth planet, a sickly blue-green ball with an ammonia/methane atmosphere.

"Well, we're here," Jenna commented unnecessarily.

"I'd like to try something first, if the two of you are willing," Sharra said, "The best source of information is going to be Msr. Jordan himself, and I'd like to take the chance of speaking with him directly. That doesn't mean that I trust what will happen, or the reactions of those around him, and I'd like some backup hanging around out here if things go sour..." It was a risk, but possibly a worthwhile one.

Jenna gave a nod, and said, "If you think you can manage. We'll certainly be on hand and ready if things prove hostile."

"I don't think it'll be a problem," Sharra replied, "At least not right away. My changed appearance will throw off any obvious suspicions at least." She made sure that everything was as ready as it can be, for any possibility she could conceive of, then took the main section of the Firefly in toward the planet. "I'll record what I see for your Empress," she added. "And keep in regular contact via the cybernet. Sharra out."

The approach was uneventful enough, the ones at the traffic monitoring room clearly not paying attention at the moment, but after landing somebody approached and asked her what her cargo is.

Sharra looked at the questioner and bared her fangs in a broad smile, purring a reply, "I'm not carrying a cargo, looking to pick one up. I've heard there's a good supply of various recreationals to be found here."

He gave a flicker of a grin and said, "You'll need to go through office 17 for matters of that nature, I'm afraid our new commanders have put some more controls on the distribution of various substances through this port."

"Oh?" Sharra looked perplexed. "I'd heard something about some differences in the system, but chalked them up to wild rumor or hallucination. Why the sudden change? Seems like it'd only hurt export and the credits rolling in."

"Oh, they're probably just trying to take a cut for themselves or something," he said with a bit of a shrug.

Sharra smirked. "Ah, shell games. Cut back supply and no one sees the extra go missing, makes sense. Thanks friend, maybe I should take a look around and see what else is going on while I'm here."

He gave a nod and bid her good day and headed off. The base itself was a pretty haphazard arrangement, with most of its rooms and buildings not being used for what they were originally intended for and people moving in and taking up new purposes for them.

Not surprising, in fact Sharra would have been stunned if the recent command change had already managed to put the chaotic mess into some semblance of order. She wandered through, keeping an eye and ear out for anything of interest, particularly hints as to where the new 'dictators' tended to frequent.

By chance, she spotted Emily herself down below. She appeared to be ... helping a little girl to the makeshift medical office. Odd.

Food for thought, and definitely a section of the recording to flag for later reference, but Sharra continued onward. Not only had she never met Emily, in fact identifying her only from image references, but circumstances would definitely indicate that the woman was no longer the central focus of the matter.

Shortly, she located information on Abram's current quarters, off to the opposite end of the base from the temple construction. A small apartment tucked away underneath the eastern side of the base.

Sharra headed off in that direction, continuing to watch and listen to those around her. Pits like this weren't uncommon, and they were generally overlooked elsewhere until they started dabbling in activities that were decidedly unhealthy for them such as piracy or slavery. Recreational drugs, no matter their debilitative effects, were still a matter of personal choice... foolish though it might be.

The map she had found wasn't the most accurate or up to date one, but she did eventually find the hole Abram has made his home in for the moment. There was a number on the door half-fallen off that looks like it might have once said "328", but the 3 was hanging loose and part of the 8 was missing.

Sharra shook her head, partially in faint amusement and part disgust at the lackluster attention to maintenance that seemed to apply here. She pushed that aside, recognizing the mental delaying tactic for what it was, and rapped lightly on the door.

There were some sounds from inside, and the door opened, Abram standing there wearing only his boxers. He clearly didn't immediately recognize her. "Yes, yes, what is it?" he grumbled.

"Might I have a word with you in private, Msr. Jordan?" Sharra asked politely, not having expected him to recognize her at all with the radical change in appearance.

He sighed a bit. "Fine, fine, come in then..." He stepped away from the door to allow her entry.

"Thank you," Sharra replied quietly and stepped inside, moving to shut the door behind them and then taking a look around, "I'm sorry if I've come at a bad time..." she offered, head cocking and ears tilting to turn that into a question.

Abram grunted softly but didn't care to say anything.

"So, how are you?" Sharra asked, hands clasping behind her back as she examined the environment absently. It wasn't really of much interest, but a habit.

The place was comparatively clean and neat, more so than one might expect from the state of disrepair in the neighborhood. "I'm... fine..." he said in a bit of a strained voice, looking to her impatiently.

"Really?" Sharra asked, turning to look at him and allowing the reconstruction systems to return her eyes to their normal unusual coloration. "I've heard some pretty strange things since Tibet that might suggest otherwise, so I thought I'd come and see for myself."

He blinked over to her and said, "Tibet... You--?"

"So soon forgotten?" Sharra chided with a smirk. "Not that it really matters, just here to find a few things out."

Abram sighed softly. "What do you want to know?"

"I was serious when I asked how you were," Sharra replied. "And frankly you left me a little confused when we met last, especially when compared to rumors of recent events. So..." she gestured uncertainly, "Why don't you tell me what's going on, or whatever and wherever you want to start from. I'm listening, though I'll be honest with you and say that I might not be the only one to do so, as I'm always recording."

Abram sighed a bit and said, "I said I was going to find Emily, and I did. Then I was possessed by the God of Pleasure who destroyed the other nine gods and absorbed their powers. And then this Danir... Chaos fellow... got all pissed off at us and blew up the planet, so we came back here."

Sharra looked at him strangely, the summary of events striking on a number of completely unfamiliar topics. "Alright," she said, "That sounds like a pretty eventful period for such a short summation, but that's your business. After taking a look around this place and nearby systems, and listening to what people have had to say, the next thing I need to ask is... what now? There's some pretty worried people out there following the sudden insanity of a bunch of cult priests and, frankly, I'm surprised myself that you let yourself get dragged into this with your own bad experiences with those gods."

"I didn't have much choice," Abram said, looking down. "I can only hope that Sheniro offers a better retirement plan than the Gods of Death, for he's got a pretty firm hold on me whether I want it or not."

"There's always a choice, Abram," Sharra replied. "Maybe not a good one, or even one that you might like at the onset, but there's always one out there. I take a look around at what these Euphorians stand for, and I really have to wonder if that's what you want with the rest of your life. Don't the Death Dancers have a fondness for self-control and the concept of right? This just seems..." she Shook her head.

"The Euphorians are not a good representation of what Sheniro stands for, especially now," Abram replied. "And no, I'm not especially fond of them myself all in all. But there's more to it than that."

"So tell me," Sharra replied. "It's part of why I came here."

"Part of the reason why I was hardly opposed to him destroying the other gods... The violent, the backstabbing, betraying gods..." he muttered. "But Sheniro was never one of the Gods of Death... he was always of the Gods of Life. For all their hypocrisies, those four never tormented their own and abused them so much."

"What does that mean in terms of intentions and plans?" Sharra asked. "Theology and ideology may be great, but you have to know that there's people out there who are going to be watching things very closely with an eye for the hammer to fall. This galaxy hasn't exactly had reason to trust lately."

"Sheniro is.... different. And I can't say I fully know his plans or intentions myself. Not surprising, I'm hardly the one who trusted in him and chose to follow him myself... At least it seems to have done a world of good for Emily though, she seems almost sane now."

"I'm sure Jenna and Zillah will be glad to hear it, if a little skeptical perhaps." Sharra chuckled, then banished the mirth. "On a note related to the intentions and potential ramifications angle, what's this about a temple and the rather harsh rumors I've heard regarding it?"

"Meh, Emily wanted them to build a temple to Sheniro. The Euphorians are annoyed about actually having to do work for once instead of sitting around stoned all day."

"I thought it would have something to do with that." Sharra smirked, then tilted her head in question. "And the export trade? I arrived under the pretence of seeking a cargo, and was informed of some significant changes. What reasoning's behind that?"

"Oh, Emily wanted to get control of their imports and exports and such so that they couldn't abuse it quite as much," he said with a shrug.

Sharra nodded, then chuckled softly. "It looks like I came out here for no real reason then, other than to reassure some interested parties. I suppose I should let you get back to your rest..." She looked him over and smirked faintly, remembering his disgruntled greeting. "Or whatever you were doing."

Abram smirked a bit and said, "Well if I were you, I'd certainly have been looking for us to make sure we weren't going to try to take over the galaxy too!"

Sharra nodded once, then rested a hand briefly on his shoulder, the contact surprisingly warm and lifelike considering the metallic appearance. "Take care of yourself, Abram, and watch out for your followers, I wouldn't like to have their actions put us on the opposite ends of a gun." She shook her head and walked to the door.

"Well, I'd hardly blame you if you had to shoot me for something," he said with a shrug. "It's to be expected in this line of work. Take care."

Sharra looked back at him, the color leeching from her eyes, then smiled quietly and shook her head in amusement. She headed through the door and closed it behind her, stood in silent thought for a few moments, then turned to head back toward the landing bay with a purposeful stride.

Jenna and Zillah awaited her return with rapt attention. "How did it go? What did you find out?" they asked.

"It would appear that there's no immediate cause for panic," Sharra replied, moving the ship to intercept and re-acquire the outriders. "Come aboard and I'll relay what I found along the way."

There was still reason for the place to be watched, without a doubt, but there weren't any screaming red flags demanding attention that she could immediately see in the situation.

They went over to her position and take their seats. Jenna said, "So I'll take it they seem saner and less precipitous than usual?"

"That's my initial impression," Sharra nodded. "And that would tend to be confirmed by a number of independent variables that support a more stable and reasonable environment. That's not to say that it couldn't change, depending on any number of things, but the first assessment would certainly appear favorable."

She waited until they were settled and then began the replay of her inspection and conversation with Abram. While it played, she set her normal appearance to reassert itself, though it was still without fur or clothing when the work was done. That required a bit more manual detailing.

"Interesting," Jenna commented afterward, then glanced over at her and blinked for a moment and said, "How did you..." She shook her head and sat back.

"How did I what?" Sharra asked, thinking in terms of the recent expedition and observations and wondering what might have spawned curiosity as to her actions. It wasn't as though she'd done anything unusual, the endeavor actually having gone far smoother than others had in the past.

"How'd you make your appearance change like that?"

Sharra blinked, then chuckled. "Oh, that, it's one of the advantages of the conversion process I decided on. There's a lot of advantages to it, though some of them are equal disadvantages. My tactile sense, for example, is nearly identical to a biological counterpart, which is a plus in some ways but is a distinct disadvantage when it comes to pain receptivity. Few take this route due to the dangers of conversion as well."

Jenna blinked a bit and said, "Guess I shouldn't be surprised that you got access to technology we don't have, back over wherever it is you're from..."

Sharra shrugged with one shoulder. "There's been a few things I've seen along the way here that I hadn't run across before either. Any time you open a rift or wormhole to another dimension you're bound to run across new and unusual ideas." She chuckled. "Which the Three Galaxies tend to be really quick about coopting for its own use. This particular brand is homegrown, even if it's origins aren't fully known."

"Seems like everything around here is about luminite lately," Jenna said. "Great, amazing new thing they're constantly finding new uses for," she gave a soft snort. "Guess best get back to Toronto and report on these findings..."

"Yes, I'm sure there'll be plenty of interest in what's been uncovered," Sharra replied. "May as well get the information to them so they can decide how closely they want to watch this sector for potentially dangerous developments," she chuckled, "and get you back in reach for another assignment."

And so they went to head back to the Toronto system once again...


	5. New Employment

Back to Toronto, seemed that was the destination of choice in recent times. Sharra made use of the time to fully restore her normal appearance, the syntheflesh replacement requiring a bit more work on the part of the nanites to replace. It was a very useful and handy ability to have on hand, but it certainly wasn't the movie magic variety of shapeshifting where things change from one moment to the next.

So some hours later, they arrived back in the Toronto system and landed fairly uneventfully. Jenna proceeded to climb out and headed toward the Imperial Palace, followed closely by a rather curious Zillah who didn't care to sit in the ship the entire visit.

Sharra wasn't quite certain as to the reasoning behind accompanying Jenna in the first place, as the matter would seem to be closed as far as any part they had in it and the woman could set out once again on her own, but... She shrugged mentally and followed after.

It was a lovely afternoon in the part of Toronto where the Imperial Palace lay, the sun shining amongst puffy white clouds dotting the sky. Jenna went straight to the palace without bothering to stop at the office across the street, and Talia if found without difficulty in one of the side chambers.

Sharra offered a polite nod and "Empress," in greeting, then stepped quietly aside to allow the normal process of reporting in take its course. The recording she'd provided Jenna would speak well enough for itself, even if there were still serious doubts as to the likelihood of trouble emerging from the situation.

Talia readily listened to Jenna's report and looked over the recordings pensively. "I don't trust them," she said once done with that. "And I want them to remain monitored. If they build so much as a vacuum cleaner, I want to know about it."

"Wise," Sharra said quietly. "Although I don't necessarily doubt the intent of the principal characters, there's still the reported demonic influence to consider as well as the mass of the populace who are unlikely to dismiss the longstanding traditions of anarchy merely for their leader's preference."

"I don't doubt that that location was chosen because of the presence of one Lisa Fadger," Talia said. "Brilliant scientist, was exiled from the Empire during the war, although unlike most of those they exiled, that particular one was more warranted than most. The public reason was because of her disregard for safety procedures, but she was secretly involved in a number of other ... experiments."

"Having a sound technological base to work with is indeed an important first step toward undertakings of a more militant aspect than they seem willing to claim," Sharra said. "As to whether or not they can forge a populace of substance-abusing addicts into an effective work-force is another question entirely."

Talia looked at Sharra pensively, and said, "As for you. I've got something here for you, if you are willing."

She pulled out of a pocket a signet ring, much like the one Jenna wore, and placed it on the desk in front of her.

Sharra didn't immediately move to take the ring, instead looking at it silently for a few moments before shifting her attention back to Talia. She could recognize a job offer when she saw one, but a very important question remained before her.

"Why?" Sharra asked simply.

"I need good people," Talia said. "With sound judgment, who are willing to do what it takes to get things done. And willing to do that with the courage and honor that I'd expect. Take it, or leave it. It's your choice," Talia finished, giving a bit of a sigh and leaning back in her chair.

"I'm not going to argue any of those points," Sharra replied. "But I'd like to point out a few counter-arguments that will inevitably arise regarding the decision with various advisors and officials. First and foremost is going to be the question of loyalty as I'm an unknown quantity and not even a citizen of your empire, recently arrived from a completely unfamiliar galaxy. There will be questions as to trust, Empress, quite pointed ones that you'll not only have to deal with but ask yourself as well. What other loyalties might exist? Have the actions and appearances to this point been forthright or a ruse to gain access?" She smiled crookedly. "I'm not unfamiliar with how these things work by any means, and don't want anyone going into it with anything less than full realization."

Talia gave a faint smirk. "The Empress's Own are chosen by the Empress alone. The thoughts and opinions of politicians have no bearing on it. They have no say in it. They're answerable only to me. And, that's part of the reason why I want you. Your views will be uncolored by the centuries of war that plagued this galaxy."

"Politicians always manage to find a way to intrude," Sharra replied quietly, looking down to consider the ring once more, then reached to take it with a shrug. "I won't argue any further, though I'd certainly appreciate a full explanation of expectations and duties, as well as jurisdictional restraints, and will require a bit of time to familiarize myself with local legal codes and procedures."

Talia gave a nod, and pulled out a datapad, tapping it a bit then handing it to her. "That should tell you everything you'd need to know, including the stuff you would be hard-pressed to find on the cybernet."

Sharra took the datapad, examined it briefly, then dropped it into a coat pocket along with the ring for now. She smirked. "I'd say that you won't regret this, but I can guarantee that you will somewhere along the way, the perils of command." She inclined her head. "So, to business, was there something specific you wished pursued, Empress?"

Talia smirked faintly and said, "General standing orders for the moment. But keep an eye on Tijuana as well, and report back immediately over my private channel should anything of note be taking place there."

"As you wish," Sharra replied. "Keeping an eye on things there should be simple enough for now, and if it starts looking like that's changing then there'll be even more reason to take a closer look." She paused, then cocked her head. "Any specific orders regarding the Jordans, should problems arise?"

A delicate situation, both as the Empress was friends to the family and she herself was traveling with two of their number.

"Abram and Emily have been known to be... erratic at times," Talia said. "And dangerous. It would not be considered out of line if you had to use lethal force against them due to their actions, although keep in mind that those two have a habit of not staying dead. Emily's been reported killed twice already, yet she still lives..."

"Undoubtedly the work of the deity or deities they've attached themselves to," Sharra replied, "not necessarily the most sterling recommendation as such entities are often quite fickle in their favors. A side issue at the moment, since there's no immediate reason to expect trouble anyway." She did, in truth, but... she shrugged mentally. "Anything else?"

Talia shook her head. "That's all for now. Keep in touch." She looked over to Zillah, noticing her quietly disappointed look. "Heh. Be patient, dear girl. Wait a few years." She chuckled softly. Talia collected some notes and stood up, nodded to them, and headed out through another doorway.

Sharra chuckled lightly, a quiet grin turned in Zillah's direction. "Soon enough, little one," she said softly, "Until then I'm afraid you're stuck continuing your lessons, training, and being stranded out in the depths of space for a while."

Not necessarily an environment she would have chosen, but as the Ancient had said it wasn't a planet or any other place which made a home...

Sharra shook her head once. "I suppose it's back out to keep an eye on things, certainly not a turn of events I would have expected."

She headed to make her way back out of the palace. On the plus side, she mused quirkily, it didn't look like she'd be needing to stop by and ask for permission to enter again.

They headed back out in the general direction of the landing area. Jenna said, "'General standing orders', by the way, is 'fly around wherever and smack anyone that's doing something bad.'"

"That was the general impression I'd gotten," Sharra replied, "and I would think that the general vicinity of Tijuana and its neighboring systems will provide ample opportunities in that regard." Sharra smirked and tilted an ear in question, "Unless the Empire has a non-interference policy in regards to the fringe worlds."

Jenna shook her head. "Nominally, the Karzan Empire claims to rule the entire galaxy. In practice, well, that's been a bit more true since the war ended at any rate. Especially considering the revised Imperial laws tend to be ones even the former rebels can't argue too much about."

"Oh there's always going to be those who argue against laws," Sharra replied. "Otherwise there wouldn't be any need for lawkeepers or judicial systems to begin with. As long as a majority can find them acceptable, though, that's a pretty good sign of a reasonable balance between freedoms and boundaries. I'll have to do some reading before I can take even a tentative stance on that."

"The core world laws tend to be a bit stricter, but the general Imperial laws are fairly lenient now. Usual stuff... no murder, no slavery, no rape, no stealing... That sort of stuff." Jenna climbed back aboard the ship.

Sharra nodded, climbing in after and heading for the cockpit. "Standard regulatory concerns, leaving the more-problematical environmental and political considerations for the higher populated and vital systems." She settled into a seat and looked down at herself a moment in thought.

Jenna and Zillah settled in and compulsively ran standard diagnostics checks. After all, if something was wrong, best to find out while they were planetside than when they get out into space. But everything checked up.

Sharra idly did the same through her neural link, familiar with the age-old wisdom of knowing the condition of your weapons and tools at all times, but left the flying itself to Zillah as per usual. She did enjoy it so, may as well indulge the girl in what small ways were possible. As they took off and headed back into space, she pulled back a sleeve of her coat and cut back a strip of syntheflesh with a faint wince.

Digging out the recently acquired datapad and ring, she laid the datapad in her lap and turned the bared patch of her wrist upward to place the ring against it. Metal ripples and flowed at her command, and the ring was drawn within for safe storage. She smoothed the syntheflesh back in place so it could reseal itself, then turned to study the information she'd been given.

Zillah flew the ship, and Jenna watched with a touch of morbid fascination. As one might expect, the ring was more than just symbolic, especially the latest batch issued by the Empress Talia, which incorporated the latest technologies into their design.

Sharra could hardly miss Jenna's reaction, and offered a quirky grin. "You'll have to get used to things like that around me, being a cyborg for so long tends to make one very practical. Besides, jewelry's not really practical for me and it's a good way to make sure no pickpocket makes off with it."

Of course, removing it as needed to show the symbol would be a pain, literally, but still practical.

Jenna chuckled softly. "Well, whatever works I guess."

Zillah asked once they were in orbit, "Where are we heading now?"

"Unless there's some other pipeline for information on something that needs to be taken a look at..." Sharra looked to Jenna in question.

Jenna poked at stuff thoughtfully. "Hmm. That luminite that was stolen from Dracula Shipyard's been found already. It was apparently the Urians. Looks like there was an assassination attempt on the president of Primus. There's been some minor disruptions around the area of Coventry..."

"We could take a look around either of those," Sharra replied. "It's that or head back and do some standard beat-walking in the vicinity of Tijuana and its neighbors."

That was always a boring detail, but an inevitable one for any law enforcement personnel.

"Man, judging by the comments on that news story, it doesn't sound like President Whitetree is especially well-liked," Jenna said. "He's in the hospital in serious condition. They're giving him an 80% chance of recovery with the use of a cybernetic lung."

"Unpopular policies, or something else?" Sharra asked.

It wasn't unusual for leaders to find themselves disliked for enacting rules which the populace didn't like, but there were also instances where outside agencies were responsible for agitating civic unrest. The first was the politician's own fault, while the second was well within the boundaries of things worth investigating.

Jenna directed her to the news thread with regards to it. Many of the comments involved calling him 'racist scum', calling him out about his persecution of minorities (species and especially religion), calling for repeal of the laws against contraception and homosexuality, and the like. Apparently the posters weren't afraid at all of being investigated for any possible involvement in the matter and felt perfectly free to say whatever they feel like.

"Mm," Sharra murmured. "Looks like a case of old-fashioned moral zealotry, surprised he lasted this long. Nothing quite like intolerance to get people up in arms, and willing to take a bite out of the most public supporter of the regime." She shrugged. "That sort of thing will generally work itself out, though may want to check around and see if there's any hint of retaliation or purges on his part."

"Doesn't look like it," Jenna said. "He won't be doing too much until he wakes up at any rate. They haven't caught whoever did it, either."

"Now that," Sharra said, ears twitching, "Is not necessarily a good sign. Amateur assassins are regularly caught within a few hours at most, someone still remaining at large would suggest either considerable competence or a network to shield them. Hrm."

Jenna smirked faintly. "They've got some leads, but rumor has it that whoever it was bribed the president's guards... Hm."

"Another facet to point at a network being involved," Sharra mused, "Lone assassins aren't likely to invest in bribery, not unless their contacts end up dead before they have a chance to be uncovered or testify. Too many openings and loose ends that way. I think..." she tapped her clawtips lightly on her thigh, "That might not be a bad thing to take a look into."

Jenna gave a nod and looked to Zillah meaningfully, and the girl said, "Next stop, planet Primus, then." She brought the ship around to the next jump gate.

Jenna said, "Primus has always been a very stringent place, with a wide array of strict laws, most of them based off the Primo religion rather than any real justification..."

"Well, in deference to their policies and inclinations," Sharra said, standing, "I think I'll go make a few changes to make things a bit easier on us all around, as well as a tad less conspicuous."

She chuckled and shook her head, then headed back into the recessed of the ship to attend to the 'disguise'.

It wasn't too long before they arrived at planet Primus. Toronto was itself heavily overpopulated and covered in cities, but Primus was even more so, its choked and crowded cities covering even what would have been open oceans on any other planet. Billions upon billions of people had taken this planet and made it completely unsuitable for anything other than their own habitation, and even that only barely.

There were a couple modifications which Sharra kept on-hand for dealing with xenophobic or ethnocentric species, and she emerged as they near Primus in the guise of a tall, fit human-appearing woman with dark hair and eyes. She was largely unremarkable other than being somewhat stocky to conserve volume, neither too severe nor attractive, and her clothing was a conservative casual-wear... somewhat at odds with the weapon belt at her waist.

She leaned in to study the readouts on Primus and shook her head. "Looks like a delightful place. What's the crime rate like down there? I'd expect people to be slitting each other's throats after stepping on each other's toes all the time."

"Well, they're Primos," Jenna said, looking over her critically. "That means everything under the sun gets outlawed, which means most of it doesn't manage to get enforced anyway. They exile anyone they suspect to be homosexual, and send most of the surplus population off to join the military."

"This should be an interesting excursion," Sharra remarked dryly, then directed to Zillah, "Get us down and secured as soon as we're contacted with landing details, may as well get things rolling."

As an afterthought she retrieved the ring from its hiding place and slipped it onto a finger of her off hand, considerably less trouble without all the fur.

Zillah gave a nod and brought them down for a landing. Since ground space was at a premium on this planet, the landing platform they were directed to appeared to be on top of one of the larger buildings in the capital region. The traffic controller, after processing their identification, expressed hope that they were here to investigate the assassination attempt.

Sharra didn't supply confirmation for that, instead heading to the hatch to disembark. "May as well check out the official angle on this first," she said, "See what they think they've come up with and go from there."

The government complex was quite large and took up the space of what might have been a small town on most planets. It housed the capital building, military center, judicial building, various other important functions, as well as a strong shield generator to protect it in the off-chance that someone managed to slip through the system defenses.

"Cautious sorts, aren't they?" Sharra remarked quietly regarding the shielding, whether for threat of outside attack or civil unrest it didn't speak particularly well for those hiding beneath the shell. She shook her head and went to find the first step in the ladder leading to the information they seek.

That would most likely be the front office of one of the far-too-clearly labeled buildings. The person at the desk looked quite relieved when she spotted their rings, and said, "Welcome, I'm glad you're here. What can I help you with?"

"We're here to inquire into the events surrounding the attempt on the life of President Whitetree," Sharra replied. "Where would we find the ones currently in charge of the investigation?"

"You should speak with Constable O'Connor," she said. "You can find him in the office at the end of the hall to the left," she said, pointing in that direction.

"Thanks," Sharra nodded, then heads in that direction.

They found a middle-aged human man in a uniform there reading over a datapad. He also looked glad to see them. "Ah, come in, come in, hello!"

"Good day, Constable O'Connor," Sharra nodded in greeting. "Heard there was a bit of trouble out this way and thought we'd drop in to check on things."

"Oh yes, oh yes, things are a crazy mess, I tell you!" He appeared to have a bit of an accent compared to Karzan standard. "Twelve guards have been sacked over the business and we still can't find the ones who put bullets in President Whitetree's chest. Bullets, I tell you!"

"Why don't you tell us about it and what you've found so far, that'll help clear out any questions and maybe give some ideas," Sharra offered, finding a place to rest comfortably with a hip propped and arms folded.

The constable pulled out some datapads and ran some visuals over the terminal screen in the office, including a recording of the attack on the president. Most notably, it appeared that the president was attacked by someone invisible. The bullets in the recording just seemed to come out of thin air.

"Now that's interesting," Sharra said thoughtfully, quirking a brow at the constable. "I assume you've run every conceivable test to assure that the record hasn't been tampered with... so that would seem to leave us with the unpleasant prospect of someone running around with a distort field of one flavor or another."

"We suspect some sort of personal cloaking device, but the Empire doesn't have that sort of technology. That would seem to indicate a rebel design. No offense," he said toward Jenna.

"Perhaps," Sharra replied, glancing a question at Jenna. "Do the fringe worlds have devices of that nature? I've seen them before, but they were highly illegal for civilian use."

Jenna said, "Not that I know of. The smallest cloaking devices that I know of that they had access to were the ones installed in the Darknova-class fighters. But personal ones aren't wholly inconceivable. It would, of course, have to be a cloaking device and not a coronite-based stealth apparatus, since coronite doesn't disrupt visual waves."

"Alright," Sharra nodded, studying the recording thoughtfully. "There's something not quite right about this, though. Why go through the trouble of bribing guards and leaving a trail to follow when it would be simplest just to walk in under this purported cloak?" She considered a few ideas on that, not likely the potential answers, then asked, "Are there other means available to achieve this effect here, psionic or magical?"

"No such thing as magic," the constable said, spitting a bit. "Although the witchcraft of the Urians comes close..."

Sharra managed to stifle a smirk at the contradictory statement, and replied, "Of course, Constable, merely examining any potential avenues. On the off-hand chance that there's something more mundane to account for the sensory aberration, I'd like you to send the recordings for analysis and go over them with a fine-toothed comb to make certain there's absolutely no possibility of tampering. Beyond that, have you made any progress in interrogating the guards on duty that night or any others who may have been bribed?"

"They wouldn't admit to being bribed, of course," he said, "but I put my telepaths on it and they dug up some very interesting things. They were all contacted by a short, robed man, but we haven't had any luck in locating him either."

"I see," Sharra replied. "I'd like to arrange a meeting with one of the guards in question when it can be arranged. I assume that no one credible has claimed responsibility for the attack, leaving no hint of motive beyond the usual suspects of political policy, et cetera, unless some message was left behind."

"They're being held for further questioning and investigation in custody on sub-basement 2," he said. "No messages or other hints were found, either."

"Anything else you've found of interest or note?" Sharra asked.

"There _is_ one more thing," he said, opening a drawer and pulling out a small item and setting it on top of the desk to show them. It's a tiny bit of metal worked into the vague shape of... a rabbit. "This was found at the scene of the crime."

Sharra examined the thing from her spot, magnifying and recording the image. "Any particular significance or connection to local or extra-system organizations making use of a similar symbol?" she asked.

"The only thing that comes to mind is the obvious, of course, that being the Rabbits," he said. "There was always some bad blood between the Rabbits and the Primos, since Rabbits were forbidden to follow the Primo religion and many of them became Death Dancers as population control."

Sharra nodded without conviction in either direction, as the simplest explanation might well be true but the more circuitous logic and train of suspicion she harbored could easily be made to accommodate the artifact.

"Alright," she said, "We're going to go down and have a little chat with one of the guards for now, then likely take a look around to see what can be found. Keep us informed of any changes."

He nodded to her and said, "Of course. Good luck."

With a final nod, Sharra headed out to find the sub-basement he'd indicated and arrange for a private interrogation. Entirely too convenient so far, by far, but she'd have to see what else their investigation turned up before allowing suspicion to formulate a response.


	6. Assassination Investigation

The former presidential guards were locked up in stark, clean isolation cells underneath the building reinforced by forcefields. The warden on duty was more than happy to accommodate her requests.

Sharra wasn't particularly picky about who she talked with, more wanting to get a feel for what might or might not be a pattern, and lets the warden escort her to whichever he deemed reasonable.

He brought out one of the treasonous guards to a private interrogation chamber and leaves them alone, presuming that two cyborgs could deal with an unarmed ordinary human easily enough if he proved idiotic.

"Good day, I trust you're finding your accommodations comfortable?" Sharra began with brittle humor. Something was nagging at the back of her mind and she wasn't sure just yet what it was, though it had to do with the telepathic intelligence which had been gathered.

He smirked at her and said flatly, "Yes."

"Good, good," Sharra replied absently, pacing a few steps thoughtfully. "I trust you recognize the depth of trouble you're in, considering the information that was gleaned from you. A society willing to exile someone for sexual preference is hardly likely to give someone implicated in the assassination attempt of their designated president a slap on the wrist."

"I knew nothing about it," he said unconvincingly.

Sharra chuckled lightly. "If I had a credit for every time I've heard a suspect say that, I'd be able to buy this system lock, stock, and barrel." She shook her head, the mirth vanishing as she focused on the man. "That's also not going to help you much when it comes down to it, in a jurisdiction where mental probing is used, it's generally considered admissible as evidence of guilt. Now, shall we dispense with the nonsense run of back and forth? They've got you cold, and that's not going to go well for you when things shake out unless you find a way to ease their inclination to scream for your blood."

He thought that over for a moment, but didn't say anything.

"I can't imagine the presidential hierarchy would hire someone with the criteria of finding the most brainless and brutish semi-sentient in this corner of the galaxy," Sharra said. "So I think you can probably see where I'm going with this. I'm going to make the same offer to each of those implicated, but only one is going to earn a helping hand when it hits the fan... depending on how forthcoming they are."

He thought about that as well, and looked up at her and sighed. "Fine..."

Sharra folded her arms casually. "So why don't you tell me about it? Don't spare the detail, friend, as I can tell you that sometimes it's the smallest and most useless-seeming tidbits that can be vital. I'm all ears."

"There was this man that came and visited us..." he began slowly. "He offered us... five million credits. Each. All we had to do... was make sure the president's forcefields were down, and stay quiet about it. He said they'd spring us afterward and give us the rest of the payment if we kept quiet about it..."

Sharra looked around pointedly and smirked. "Looks like at least part of their promise wasn't exactly on the level, wouldn't you say?" she waved a hand dismissively, "Anyway, what can you tell me about this man? Any particular accent? Nervous habit? Unusual scents?" That last one was a long-shot when talking scent-blind humans, but sometimes it came into play.

"He wasn't very tall, around five one maybe, and he wore a hooded cloak, like one worn by the priests," he said slowly. "He was... clean-shaven, almost boyish, though I didn't get too good a look at his face. I had to think he couldn't have been more than sixteen or eighteen."

Sharra nodded slowly, considering the oddities of that, then cocked her head, "What arrangements were made in terms of payment delivery? Or at least mentioned." She smirked.

"He gave us each one million credits in advance to show he was serious," he said. "It was legitimate too, it passed."

"Serious indeed, considering the number of your comrades involved," Sharra replied, the fact adding another mark in favor of a faction involved rather than a solo assassin. "And did he mention anything else regarding intent or purpose? Surely something he said beyond mere money was convincing enough to risk what was sure to catch up with you."

"He promised... protection. And threatened harsh retaliation if we reported him or if the shield wasn't down at the intended time..."

"Mm-hmm," Sharra mused. "And did he mention a vehicle for this threat of retaliation? I find it difficult to believe that not a single one of your co-conspirators had second thoughts and put a word in a watcher's ear without some definitive fear."

"He said... he said... that they'd come after our wives and our children..." he murmured quietly.

"One of the men was thinking of just pocketing the money and taking a hike, and he said that almost as if in response to it..."

"I see," Sharra said, a generally effective tactic indeed. "And was there some common factor that identified the specific members this man suborned? Debt, dislike of the current regime, that sort of thing?" Motives were likely unique to each, but it never hurt to check for shared threads.

He shook his head, "Not that I can think of." He paused for a long moment. "He'll know that I cooperated with you. But ... my wife died three years ago, and both of my kids are off-world. They're Death Dancers..." He looked to the floor.

"And why do you assume he'll be aware of your cooperation?" Sharra asked, quirking a brow, this little detail one that might prove of considerable interest.

"Because he knew... he knew what we were thinking... he addressed our questions before we could even ask them..."

Interesting indeed... Sharra nodded. "Very well, that's all that I have to ask for the moment. Speak to the warden if there's anything else you think of that might be of use in finding this man or his associates."

He gave a nod and said, "Alright.."

Sharra left the interrogation chamber, sealed it behind her, and addressed the warden. "See that he's returned to his cell and given reasonable requests for comfort. I also want a twenty-four hour guard on him, there are to be no 'accidents' or mishaps where he's concerned. Clear?"

The warden nodded and said, "Of course, ma'am. We'll keep a close eye on him."

"Very good," Sharra replied, then headed back out of the area with a quick stride, mulling over the conversation. "Something seems a bit out of place here, can't quite put my finger on it though."

"He was lying about something," Zillah said. "Or concealing something. I don't know what though."

"What gives you that idea?" Sharra asked with a curious glance in Zillah's direction.

"What? I could feel it..."

"That's a useful talent to have available," Sharra chuckled, then continued more seriously. "How common are psionics in this sector? Provided that wasn't what he was lying about, that would seem to be a fairly extensive use of skill to monitor the entire contingent of guards for hints of wavering dedication. Since the Urians appear to be out of the equation for now, that would have to leave a small pool of potential."

Jenna said, "I don't know anyone that good at psionics except maybe a handful of people, if that. And the Empress is one of them." She paused thoughtfully. "That particular ability was, however, more common among the Elkandu..."

"Would any of the ones you're aware of meet the likely age for the basic description provided, as well as gender?" Sharra asked, then tilts an ear. "And what of these Elkandu, another faction or separate race?"

"Neither, really," Jenna said. "'Elkandu' is merely their term for a powerful mage from their universe. They're of all different races." She thought for a moment. "Short... boyish... telepathic... the one that immediately comes to mind is Azale. He matches that description and would certainly be capable of what was claimed..."

"What motivation would this person have for interfering in the internal politics of another universe entirely, though?" Sharra asked. "Seems like an awful lot of trouble for little return, unless they have a history of interfering here."

"The Elkandu have a history of interfering wherever they feel like, usually in a much more precipitous manner than that. I somehow doubt it was Azale, anyway. He would not have _needed_ to bribe the guards... the president's forcefields could not have kept him out anyway. Plus, he's more likely to have been capering around downtown sampling ice cream flavors instead."

"Mm, well that thankfully narrows the pool of suspects again," Sharra said. "And frankly there's more than enough in this galaxy without complicating it further afield. Be different if there was any sign of potential gain for them, but without any other signs? Unlikely. No, this most likely has to do with local factions, the government certainly having made enough enemies with its policies along the way."

"My best guess would still be the Urians, but even aside from current divine matters, they aren't usually prone to doing things quite so blatantly. They'd be more likely to try to summon a demon to disembowel the president or something."

"That would seem in line with their general inclinations," Sharra agreed, then grimaced. "Which leaves either a random faction vying for control or a rather unpleasant potential that's been turning in the back of my mind."

"What's that?" Jenna wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"I just got to thinking who else might have an interest in disrupting things here and a strong dislike for Primos in general," Sharra replied, then shook her head. "Probably just a result of recent events and normal paranoia for my line of work, though."

"And that would be?" Jenna pressed.

Sharra sighed softly. "From the evidence we've seen so far, it would seem to indicate one of a couple possible outside sources, whether Elkandu or fringe world factions. Who would benefit by creating a situation where the fringe worlds were suddenly cast into a suspicious light, likely slowing or halting their assimilation, as well as have the resources and power available to do so?" She still seemed reluctant to answer directly.

Jenna frowned thoughtfully. "The rebels? I don't know."

Sharra shook her head faintly. "Who would also gain from a split in the Death Dancers, or even a return to disfavor for them, if something like this was placed at their doorstep?" She added the last potential benefit, then answered softly, "The Euphorians and their god, as well as the ones responsible for its recent rise in stature, would benefit quite nicely in all those ways."

"But how would the Euphorians orchestrate anything like this? Though, I do think they have a couple good telepaths in their ranks..."

"I wasn't thinking the Euphorians themselves," Sharra replied. "There's at least two there now who are clear-headed and fully capable of arranging this sort of thing, and that says nothing about what their deity might decide to throw in to lend a hand. It seems far-fetched, but it would definitely cover the various odd angles we've seen."

"Wait, you think Emily and Abram are somehow responsible for all this?" Jenna said, frowning. "I'd hardly put it past them, but..."

"They have the connections, the organization and resources, and the motivation," Sharra replied, then shrugged. "Perhaps it's just a reaction to recent encounters and events, suspicion and supposition, but the possibility exists and it's been gnawing at the corner of my mind as we've gone along."

"To be fair, I certainly couldn't put it past them, nor think of any good arguments against it."

"Well let's see what else we can find," Sharra said, heading for the constable's office, adding quietly, "I'd really prefer it to be something else, honestly."

They followed after her. Jenna said, "What I wonder, though, is who this man is who approached the guards... he certainly doesn't sound like just some lackey."

"No he doesn't," Sharra replied, then offered a thin grin, "But then we don't know how active this Sheniro plans on being or what his abilities are, do we?"

Jenna blinked for a moment. "Why would a god..." she trailed off and sighed.

"Why not? That's the real question," Sharra replied, shaking her head. "Depending on how grateful he was to Msr. Jordan, why wouldn't he do something that would make his favored acolyte happy? Pretty wild and unpleasant train of thought, isn't it?"

"It is very difficult to prosecute a deity," Jenna commented dryly.

"That it is," Sharra agreed. "But if that does turn out to be the case then the attention would turn rather unpleasantly toward his followers, not to mention undoing the intent of the thing to begin with." She really hoped that wasn't the case, for more than one reason.

Constable O'Connor was happy to listen to whatever they had to tell him and eager to accommodate them in showing them to the crime scene, which had been marked off with ropes.

There wasn't a lot that they'd learned so far, but Sharra revealed what small facts were gleaned from the interview with the prisoner. She didn't go into the rather odd bit of speculation that had been bugging her, though, leaving that for later consideration.

She took a careful look over the scene, sensor implants sweeping over in meticulous detail, and asked the constable almost casually, "How many shots were fired?"

"Six shots, from an old-style revolver," he explained. "This is the position where the perpetrator fired from..." he said, indicating a bit of ground that had been marked with a chalk X. "And over there was where the president was standing," he said, indicating another marked spot.

Sharra nodded thoughtfully. "And does the president wear any sort of protective gear on a regular basis? Personal force screen, ballistic mesh, that sort of thing?"

"There's usually a forcefield to protect him, yes, but on this occasion it had apparently been shut off. Even failing that, his vest would have provided some protection against energy weapons, but not projectiles..."

Sharra had been referring to any personal devices rather than the field they already knew had been shut off, but didn't pick at it as the question had been answered anyway. She made another slow, detailed sweep of the scene, careful to avoid disturbing anything that the forensics team might wish to leave untouched, then nodded.

"Thank you, constable, I think that's all for now."

The constable nodded, and went to head back inside. Jenna scratched her chin peering at the scene for a long moment.

"So, check me on this," Sharra said quietly when the constable was gone. "What we have is some shadowy organization that managed to infiltrate and suborn a good number of palace guards, showing access to considerable resources including a personal distortion field of some kind, all very professional, right? So tell me this, with competence of that level, why did an assassin take _six_ shots and the president end up with minor enough wounds to have such likely odds of survival?"

Jenna raised an eyebrow, and said, "Because he didn't intend to kill him?"

Sharra nodded, smiling grimly. "Pretty much what I've been thinking. Who, what, where, when, and how, these are all secondary to _why_... Now, looking at it from that angle, that they didn't want him dead, what does that leave us? You have a not particularly well-liked president, with a history of bigotry and intolerance, apparently the target of an assassination attempt and all the thin evidence points to the fringe... What do you think a man like that is going to do when he wakes up?"

Jenna frowned some more. "So we're meant to _think_ they were trying to kill him, but it's all really a setup for something else..."

"Why did they pick this man specifically?" Sharra asked quietly. "Why not the Empress or one of the other world governors or presidents? I think his very inclinations provide the 'why' behind it, I'm afraid, and unless we can head it off their intent just might succeed."

Jenna looked about ponderously, and said, "Why a revolver?"

"Less likely to kill someone accidentally," Sharra said, "Yet it allowed for emptying the entire ammunition load, which always screams 'crime of passion' to a trained law enforcer. It looks like they were getting _too_ cute here, trying to point in too many directions, but I have the uneasy suspicion that the ultimate reason was to increase racial tension and spark a war."

"There was, however, certainly no shortage of rebels who weren't happy about being ruled by the Empire, even under the new regime..."

"And which way do you think they're going to leap when it comes down to the president deciding the rabbits are to blame and trying to do something about it?" Sharra asked. "What would the result be? One hell of a nasty bit of fighting, and with the number of rabbits as Death Dancers you might well be looking at them wiping out a good part of the Primo military. Damn it," she scowled, "The more I look at the possible reasoning and outcomes, the more I'm leaning toward this being the work of Sheniro and his minions."

"It wouldn't surprise me. I just have to wonder how deeply Abram and Emily are involved in that..."

"I don't know," Sharra replied honestly. "I wish I could say that I doubted it was anything to do with them, but with the connection your father claimed Emily had with the old gods and then whatever transpired to change things... I can't really place much faith in it. Unfortunately, the fact that the police haven't found a single clue in locating this mystery instigator only strengthens the possibility."

"Abram was formerly the High Priest of the Gods of Death. Emily sacrificed him and took over that position," Jenna said. "And I'm not even going to try to wrap my brain around the wild time-travel story they claim happened after that."

"Right," Sharra said, "So the likelihood of them not being involved or at least being aware is somewhat slim. I think a trip back to have a word or two is in order, after informing the Empress and leaving the political side of keeping President Whitetree from doing anything stupid to her." She smirked. "May as well stop by for a final little chat with our songbird before going, though."

Jenna gave a nod, not envying the position of the Empress to restraining the idiot president. Sharra headed back to check on and have a chat with the imprisoned guard, smirking to herself at the line she was about to take. What was the world coming to?

Jenna and Zillah proceeded to follow her some more. "Then again, it might just be something else entirely just to throw us off," Jenna said with a snicker.

"It could," Sharra agreed. "I don't think so though, too much working against some other random explanation, trying just a bit too hard to point the finger at the fringe worlds in such a way as to be a red flag for the president when he wakes up. Frankly I don't really care if it _was_ a normal assassination attempt, I've seen better people killed for less reason, it's the consequences that worry me."

Jenna nodded darkly. They shortly took one elevator down and arrived back at the sub-basement again where the guards were being held.

"I'd like to speak with the prisoner again," Sharra said, then smirked. "And a copy of his file if it wouldn't be too difficult to obtain."

The warden was happy to accommodate her, bringing out a datapad with the requested information and going to retrieve the guard from his cell again. Sharra scanned through the file absently while waiting, turning over what they've found, slim though the information was. The datapad gave off his basic information. Apparently his name was Timothy Hays, and he was 28 years old and was born in the Springfield region of planet Primus. The warden returned shortly with the prisoner and left them again.

"Have a seat, Msr. Hays," Sharra waved at a chair nearby. "There were a few questions I wanted to ask you, but a personal one first to put things in perspective... Do you love your children?" Her eyes focused on him intently, leaving him little clue as to the reason behind the question.

He sat and blinked at her for a moment. "Yes, of course. What parent wouldn't?"

Sharra nodded, her expression losing its edge. "Indeed," she replied softly, "And I want you to think about that very carefully for a minute. I'm not threatening them," she reassured him, "but the people you took money from have stirred up a situation and pointed the finger of evidence in such a way that a war could well break out... Do you think your children, as Death Dancers would avoid that? They might have little regard for their own safety, but does that same complacency extend to you as their sole living parent?"

He shook his head. "I'm sure they can take care of themselves. They'd be annoyed at me if I suggested otherwise."

One had to wonder, though, that his file claimed that he was 28, but he claimed to have Death Dancer children...

Sharra smirked faintly. "Msr. Hays, I have a son who followed in my steps and I still worry about him despite my complete faith in his competence, that's just the nature of being a parent. I'd have to wonder about that on a very basic level, if your own age didn't cast some shadow of doubt on what you've already told me. Would you care to enlighten me as to the perplexing conflict that rises from that?"

He blinked for a moment and looked to the ground. "Mandy.. died without ever bearing me a child... But I'd always wanted children... so I went to the Cybions..."

Considering the war was still on at the time, he must have had to gone to rebel space to do that. Cybions... Sharra smoothly restrained a growl at that and merely nodded, cocking her head encouragingly for him to continue even though she could deduce the outcome of the tale.

"So they... made me two children with the DNA of myself and my wife... a girl and a boy..." He was clearly uncomfortable talking about it. "They put them in these special tanks, where they grew, over weeks, and when they came out they were like teenagers..." Well, that was one way to skip out on changing diapers.

"And how long ago was this?" Sharra asked, the revelation seeming of little real relevance but an aspect of the man's story nonetheless.

"Two and a half years ago."

Sharra shook her head, "I can understand that, and don't even hold it against you like others in this backward, intolerant place would. That means that your apparent lack of concern is even more threadbare than believed, though, or you wouldn't have gone through so much effort in the first place to save some part of your mate." She sighed and moved toward the door. "For their sake, if not your own, I hope that we can stop your disappearing friend's plans from bearing fruit."

He nodded nervously and said quietly, "I hope so too..."

Sharra stopped at the door, thought about it a moment, then asked, "Is there anything else you might have hidden from me when we talked last, Msr. Hays?"

She sent a quick cybernet message addressed to Zillah with a simple message to watch his reaction and tell her if any deception was detected. Hopefully the girl didn't have the thing completely shut down. She did respond immediately with an acknowledgment.

He looked uncomfortable for a moment. "That... depends..." he murmured.

Sharra turned back to him, a brow arched/ "Depends on what, Msr. Hays?"

He sighed softly. "I was never really... overly fond of President Whitetree in the first place," he admitted. "I would not have been... too disappointed if he had been killed."

Sharra smirked. "I somehow doubt that's an uncommon sentiment, Msr. Hays, but have to wonder what that confession is leading up to."

Hell, given the reason and authority to do so _she_ wouldn't have any hesitation and seeing the man dead, but that was beside the point.

"So it wasn't just out of threats or bribery..." he says uncomfortably.

"That doesn't surprise me," Sharra replied, then paused for a moment in thought. It was true the man had broken any number of laws, and yet... Making the decision, she nodded once. "Come with me," she said, and opened to door to head out.

He gave a sigh and a nod and went to follow after her, wondering just what he'd gotten into now.

Sharra found the warden and offered a polite greeting, then gestured to Hays with a thumb. "We'll be taking Msr. Hays along with us as a material witness," she said, "The Empress will doubtless find his testimony intriguing, as well as being able to to potentially derive further detail from his mind." Certainly not regulation, she was sure, but within the bounds of feasibility.

The warden said, "As you wish. Is there anything else you require?"

"No, that'll be all," Sharra replied, then walked around behind Hays. "Hands behind your back, if you please." She waited until he complied, taking a sphere from her belt, then pressed it to his back to unfold the constraining field. "Come on," she said, motioning him to the way out of the dungeon.

He was perfectly obedient and went along after her as they returned to the lift again.

"I'm going to check in with the constable and see if anything else has turned up in the interim," Sharra said. "Mind taking our friend here along to the port? I should be there shortly."

Jenna nodded and said, "Come along now." She led him out back to the ship.

Nothing else had turned up from the constable, however, although he did report on the completed DNA check of the rabbit pendant they had found. Apparently, either the perpetrator was a bovine, or he was wearing gloves. No help there.

Sharra thanked the man, informed him of their departure, and assured him that the matter would continue to be investigated. The niceties aside, she headed back out to the ship and climbed aboard, not especially pleased with the way events were turning out. Zillah and Jenna were aboard, having stowed the prisoner aboard, and were ready to leave when she got there.

"Let's get out of here and report in before the president can wake up and open the gates of hell," Sharra said after sealing the hatch behind her.

She looks at the two, then headed back to check on their guest. He was sitting in the little-used sleeping quarters, and looked up at him when she entered. He looked fairly calm under the circumstances, although maybe a bit regretful. Sharra watched him, then walked around to remove the come-along, freeing him to move as he liked. She returned the device to her belt and walks back to the hatch.

"I'm not sure just what to do with you, Msr. Hays. You did indeed break any number of laws, but along with your testimony and an array of mitigating circumstances..." She turned back to face him, head tilting to listen to the hum of engines as they took off.

"I understand," he said quietly. "I never really expected them to come for us anyway..."

Sharra shook her head. "No, I don't think you understand, but it's not really important. What matters to you is that your employers left you and your friends high and dry, without a leg to stand on, and probably for a long prison term at the least. I don't feel any remorse about leaving them behind, but I'm good to my word when I make a deal, even though I'm not sure just yet how far to take it."

Tim just stared quietly at nothing, listening to her as she spoke but unsure as to what to say.

"Let me ask you something," Sharra said after a silence grown uncomfortable, perfectly still in a way that only cyborgs and similarly not-quite-alive beings could be. "Do you make a habit out of betraying trust that's placed in you?"

He shifted uncomfortably and said quietly, "I generally try not to, no..."

Sharra crouched, the position most comfortable out of habit, and clasped her hands between her knees. "Then I'm going to make a deal with you, Msr. Hays," she said quietly. "We're going to be reporting about what we found to Empress Talia shortly, provided she has no objection or desire to see you held, I'll do what I can to see that you're turned loose outside the bounds of the Empire. What you do there is up to you, whether finding your children and making peace with the dismissal that they have for things like honor and trust you showed in this or something else entirely. I'm going to give you a second chance and place a bit of trust that you'll make the best of it, learning from your mistake."

His eyes widened and he looked at her in a bit of surprise. "You--You'd do that for me?"

"I'm a great believer in the law, Msr. Hays," Sharra replied seriously. "But there's an older law that speaks of mercy and justice. Yes, I know you're guilty of what you were charged, but I also have to wonder whether some part of what you did wasn't related to the creation of your children and the blood price the Cybions surely charged. People will do many things when they're against a wall." She shook her head. "Despite that wonder, though, I did give my word and believe that there's something beyond the monster that the courts would vilify and condemn without compassion."

He looked off quietly and murmured, "Thank you... I really appreciate it, whatever might come of it.."

"We'll have to see," Sharra said, standing again. "The Empress might decide otherwise, and this," she lifted the ring, "means I agreed to abide by that. I wouldn't have if I didn't think she was worth the service, though, so... we'll see." She opened the hatch. "Feel free to take a look around if you feel a need to stretch your legs." She headed back for the cockpit.

He gave a nod and said, "Of course, of course..."

Back in the cockpit, Zillah was piloting them through the jumpgate network back to Toronto.

"So what've we got for an ETA?" Sharra asked conversationally, though she could just as easily draw the information out of the nav computer through the neural link.

"Ten minutes if the traffic is good," Zillah said.

"Definitely advantage to a warp network." Sharra chuckled, moving to settle comfortably into a seat. "Just as well, give the Empress plenty of time to decide what kind of damage control to spin."

Zillah put the ship in line to head through the jump gate to Terra and flew along through.

"I'm glad that's her job and not mine," Jenna said.

"You and me both," Sharra agreed readily. "Politics is no business to be in. Give me the life of a civil servant who just identifies and occasionally deals with problems any day, rest a lot easier that way..." She smirked. "And at least when people start shooting at you, there's a simple enough way to resolve the issue."

"Quite. I never really figured out why people want to rule the universe anyway," Jenna said. "When I was in the Elkandu Universe, I heard that the universe gets taken over on average of twice a year."

"I think it's some form of insanity." Sharra chuckled lightly, then shook her head seriously. "No, it's understandable on a lot of levels, the most important seeming to be that a lot of people who look for it are powerless in one way or another, or perceive themselves to be, and being able to 'rule' over others satisfies some small, petty beast inside. Egh."

"Well, at least there the case is generally that someone claims to rule the universe... and nobody actually listens to them anyway. The might put up a couple statues and change a few signs, and go on blithely doing what they were doing anyway. Strange place, that is."

"If only we could be sure that's what's going to happen here with the empowering of Sheniro," Sharra said, the whisper of potentials like a poison in her thoughts. She'd encountered beings considered to be gods before, and a very, very few of them were creatures she'd consider sane or moral in any way that would benefit society.

Arriving in the Toronto system, Zillah proceeded to bring them in for a landing at the Imperial capital again.

Jenna said, "Nothing good, I would imagine."

"Thank you for the reassurance," Sharra replied dryly, then chuckled. "Well at any rate, we can only take it one step at a time and try to avoid getting stepped on by gods along the way."

She was mildly tense regarding the upcoming report to the Empress. They really hadn't found anything solid enough to consider reliable and yet... The potential ramifications were, at least, logical, and anything else could wait.

The ship landed and Zillah promptly powered down the engines and hopped for the hatch. It was evening now in the capital district, the sun setting behind the irregular horizon of buildings to the west.

Sharra went to collect Hays, then left the ship with the others and headed for the palace to report in, wryly hoping that they weren't about to intrude on the Empress' dinner or something else equally inconvenient. The Empress had, however, finished eating already and was currently speaking with one of the generals of the Karzan Military. She waved them right in when she saw them.

"Empress," Sharra murmured in polite greeting, offering a nod and then moving to the side for the moment until Talia's business with the general was concluded or she was invited to speak further. She remained quietly watchful of Hays.

Talia glanced to the man with them and said to Sharra, "Come in, I was just discussing the matter of the attack on President Whitetree with General Weiss here."

"Fortuitous timing, since we've just returned from taking a look around there," Sharra replied. "The evidence is sketchy and inconclusive, but certain potentially problematic questions were raised."

Talia nodded. "It is a puzzling matter... Have you discovered anything of note?"

"All evidence would appear to point squarely at the fringe worlds," Sharra replied. "Specifically some well-organized network with considerable resources, and peripherally believed connected to the rabbitfolk." She recited that as though a litany, without emotion or sign of opinion on it.

"I don't seriously think the Rabbits had anything to do with it," Talia said.

General Weiss said, "No doubt it was the responsibility of one of the more organized groups of the former Rebellion, perhaps the Cybions or the Urians."

"Perhaps," Sharra said, "Although with recent events I'd suspect the Urians are in considerable disarray at this point in time. There is another faction that's becoming more organized recently, however, and they would have the resources to accomplish the faked assassination."

"Look into it further. I want answers, not speculation, and about all we have right now is speculation," Talia said without even bothering to press her for details. "It's a fair enough avenue to check out, all things considered, but I want some certainty."

"As you wish, Empress," Sharra replied, inclines her head formally, then turned to head for the door.

As she did so, she clearly saw the puzzled look on the general's face, but Talia didn't elaborate to him. Jenna looked puzzled as well as she followed her out.

Sharra made her way back out of the palace and off to the ship. The sooner they could return to surveillance of Tijuana and its environs the better. Msr. Hays would simply have to wait a bit until they dropped by a planet in the fringe suitable to his being left there.

Jenna said upon return to the ship, "Well, that was interesting..."

"It was indeed," Sharra agreed. "I'm not going to speculate on it, though, since it would mean poking at that ugly little subject we mentioned a bit ago. It's enough that she's aware of what's going on, what could come of it, and the avenue we're going to pursue." She gestured Hays toward the back of the ship. "I'm sorry, but you're stuck with us for the duration. I'll get things settled as soon as possible."

Hays headed back there.

Jenna said, "She's the best telepath in the galaxy. I don't doubt that."

Sharra chuckled, the concept pretty much a null as far as she herself was concerned, but she wouldn't doubt there were other means available to Talia. If nothing else, she had companions. Shaking her head once, she settled into a seat.

"Let's get going," Sharra said. "I got an impression that there was some small amount of urgency conveyed with our dismissal."

Zillah took off and set a course for Tijuana.

Jenna said, "From her vagueness, one might think that she didn't want General Weiss to know about it..."

"Yes, it seemed that way." Sharra nodded, smiling grimly. "Exactly what and where does General Weiss command, out of curiosity?"

Jenna looked it up and said, "The Imperial military of the Primus system."

Sharra rubbed her forehead and sighed. "I'm going to have to remember to take a good look through the duty rosters to see who works where, and soon, I should know better than that. Of course she was wary, it'd be General Weiss who would be acting as hatchetman if Whitetree goes off the deep end. Damn it, I hate politics, so why do I keep getting sucked through them?"

"Masochism?" Jenna suggested jovially, leaning back in her seat. "I'm sure she can handle it, though, if push comes to shove."

Sharra shook her head, and turned her lips in a combination of a grin and a smirk. "Oh no, things don't work that way, dear Msr. Jordan. It's _our_ duty to make sure that it doesn't come down to push _or_ shove, and the old gods have pity on our souls if we fail."

Jenna gave a bit of a grimace and a nod. "I just hope the president _doesn't_ decide to do something stupid in the meantime."

"We're going to have to hit the ground running on this one if we want to give the Empress something to work with to prevent that," Sharra said. "Damn if I know how to go about finding what we'd need, though, other than talking to those involved and trying to get some straight answers without getting shot in the process."

Zillah brought them on through the jump gates and out into a wormhole back toward Tijuana. Then she blithely pulled up some reading material for the trip, today being apparently War and Peace, for some reason. Jenna grimaced again as she saw what Zillah was reading.

Sharra settled into thoughtful silence for the trip, working at the twisted skein of the problem and trying to find a way to unravel the thing. Zillah's choice brought a moment of distraction, quirking a faint grin as she recognized the title and realized that this place must have bumped across some of the same dimensions the Three Galaxies had. It was a good choice, if dry, a classic bit of literature to broaden the girl's mind.

That distraction passed quickly, though, and she returned to the unpalatable approach she's been coming to terms with. It reminded her of some old backwater dimension's mythology, an interesting tidbit called a Gordian Knot and the approach taken to solving the dilemma... a cut straight through the middle.

"So how does one go about confronting a god?" Sharra mused quietly.

"Well, I hear that standing on a hilltop wearing copper armor and shouting that all gods suck is not a good way of doing it," Jenna commented.

Sharra looked at Jenna strangely for a moment, the expression turning thoughtful, "Perhaps not, but there might be something to that approach after all..."

"Well, it would definitely get their attention, if they were much of a deity in the first place, to be sure."

Sharra sank back into the chair, bonelessly relaxed as she thought about it, crossing her ankles. "Shouting insults might not be such a grand idea," she said, "But they _were_ building a temple there."

"Maybe just sort of... saying hi?"

Sharra nodded, eyes focusing back on the here and now as she smiled crookedly. "Why hello there, Msr. Sheniro, I'm here to ask you a few questions if you don't mind." Oh, it was an insane idea alright, but then the universe wasn't exactly the most stable place at times either.

Jenna snickered softly. "I guess it's worth a shot. The worst that could happen is eternal damnation, after all."

"You're quite the supportive sort, aren't you?" Sharra smirked, then shook her head. "Well, if I'm going to do this, there's no reason to make it a three-for-one event. What are your plans?"

"I guess try to get to the bottom of this one way or another. Find out if they're really behind this all..."

"Even if they're not," Sharra said. "I have a hunch that there's more going on down there than they'd admit to. The interesting part's going to be getting to the areas they won't want you to see. Just be damned careful, we're going way out on a limb here and I doubt the Empire's going to have many resources to spare looking for us soon."


	7. Conversations with God

And so some hours later, the Firefly arrived in the Tijuana system. There was still nobody bothering to do traffic control or noticing them show up. All the better that they _weren't_ paying attention yet, as far as Sharra was concerned, though she was fairly certain that would change over time.

"Let's get down there and see what we can find," she said, glancing over at Jenna, "Might be a good idea to take a look around for that scientist the Empress mentioned, see what they might be up to. May as well gather as much information as possible on the run."

Jenna nodded. Zillah proceeded to bring them in to land quietly. Sharra remained in her human guise as she headed out of the ship and went to search for the temple. The entire idea was absurd, she knew it, but sometimes strange avenues brought strange results.

The temple wasn't too difficult to locate, merely by following the sounds of welding. Jenna and Zillah meandered off to find what they could learn. The temple was being constructed as quickly as a Jehovah's Witness kingdom hall that suddenly appeared at the end of your street one day.

Sharra followed the trail to the thing, not too concerned about being identified at the moment and taking advantage of the opportunity to look around. The temple was rather ornate, with various decorations already hanging here and there in the more completed sections. A flute, a hammer, a sword, a scales... Sharra looked for a central chamber, an intended place of worship, her thoughts turning to how to gain the attention of the entity in question.

It was mainly unoccupied at the moment, a large room with a stone altar sitting in the center of it, several fake candles arranged around it and some chairs arranged haphazardly around the room. Sharra took a slow walk around the room, then approached the altar. She propped a hip against it, crossed her arms, and took a look around at the disorder around her.

"Alright," she said, "I've played by your rules and your game to this point, now it's time to see if you can meet me this far. So how about it, care to show yourself? Make some grand entry? Or do you want something else first, hmm?"

There was a sudden glow and a rushing sound around her, and a swirling wind whirled about her for a moment. Interspersed in it there was the trilling sound of a flute, and the flute hanging nearby spun about wildly and seemed to play on its own for a moment.

"Very nice," Sharra says dryly, clapping lightly to applaud the showmanship, her actions masking any outward sign of the unease that was currently tying itself into knots within. She waited a moment more, listening for further sign, wondering if that was merely the first or a hint as to what the unknown entity sought as a token.

The flute disappeared as if snatched up by a divine hand, and there was the sound of flute music from down the hall off one of the side wings. A darker and less completed hall that looked fairly deserted at the moment. Sharra glanced in that direction, focusing on the sound appreciatively... she might have all the musical talent of an untuned hyperspace engine, but she could at least enjoy music performed well. She pushed away from the altar and headed quietly in that direction, eyes shifting modes to dispel the darkness.

Off in the shadows of the corridor, leaning up against a pillar that hadn't yet been fully erected, she saw a tall being with long, pink hair and pointy ears and wearing simple white robes. No divine halo or fiery aura or even glowing eyes would indicate any higher than mortal being about it.

Nothing other than having acquired the flute, though that could be explained through more mundane magical means as well. Sharra approached the being, stopping nearby and setting herself into a quietly attentive pose for the moment as the music threaded onward.

He lowered the flute from his lips and looked up at her with a flicker of a smile. "Well met," he said. "My name, as you might have guessed, is Sheniro."

Sharra inclined her head in greeting. "I suspected as much, but it doesn't pay to make too many assumptions in certain situations, and while you likely already know it my name is Sharra." She motioned to the flute, a faint smile rising. "You play quite beautifully."

He smiled and inclined his head to her in appreciation of the praise. "Always striving for perfection... one has to wonder if it even exists... or if that even matters. You can build a perfect machine from imperfect parts."

"Of course perfection exists, if only in the mind." Sharra chuckled lightly. "That image is what keeps people striving onward despite the various imperfections and cruelties of the world around them throughout their lives."

Sheniro smiled some more, and straightened a bit, brushing self-consciously at his robes. "Indeed so. But I don't think you came to me solely to discuss philosophy. Or perhaps that _is_ why you came to me? Hmm?"

"In a way, perhaps," Sharra replied. "Though there's more direct questions I might ask of you a bit later. I suppose the first thing I'd like to do is learn a little more about you, your goals and purpose, the things you ask or would demand of your followers, that sort of thing. So," she quirked a grin, "Maybe a little practical philosophy to start things off."

"Know that my destruction of the other gods was not solely out of greed or lust for power, anymore than that attack of Kaela Mensha Khaine upon the Gods of Chaos was," Sheniro said. "The likes of them I had put up with for far too long, for their ever-increasing madness and destructive tendencies. The Gods of Death were destructive to the point of suicidal, and would destroy the entire universe given the chance.

"And the Gods of Life.... were not much better. Patarvio, for his rigid system of law and hierarchy, blindly imposing restrictions for the sake of restrictions... Idile, the God of Change of the Cybions, for all that change and madness in seeking physical perfection, not so bad in and of itself, but growing increasingly abusive and uncaring of the lives of those they affected... And Krizetch, the mad God of Creativity of the Glyphans, driven down into ... making really bad music." He grimaced. "That terrible noise which they inflicted upon others heedlessly, losing sight of why they had originally created their order in the first place... I cannot say that over much of that course, the Euphorians have been much better, however," Sheniro said. "Like the Glyphans, they, too, had resorted to use of drugs and blind madness, perhaps even more so... But perhaps there is time enough for redemption."

Sharra listened attentively as Sheniro spoke, mulling his words over and weighing them carefully. It all sounded so reasonable, and yet there were still aspects of the situation that puzzled or worried her beyond the seemingly simple assurances. There were still a great many unknowns, and even if he answered her questions she could do nothing except accept them in good faith or refuse them... and she was as yet uncertain.

"That would seem a commendable enough purpose from the outside," she replied, "But having taken a look around following the events you spoke of, you'll have to forgive me if there's a little doubt involved as to your motives and the lengths that you might pursue to achieve your goals. There's still something here that doesn't ring quite true, and frankly I don't trust that there's not a danger in it."

He tilted his head and said, "My followers may do any number of mad things in my name which I did not necessarily wish them to do. The Euphorians... oh, the Euphorians... They called me a God of Pleasure, and perhaps I was, but that alone was never solely what I represented, and especially not now."

"And what precisely _do_ you represent now?" Sharra asked. "And just as importantly how involved and active do you seek to become in more mundane affairs now that there aren't any others out there to compete with?"

He smiled a bit sadly and said, "It is not the place of deities to interfere with the everyday lives of mortals." He leaned back and looked off up toward the ceiling a bit and said, "I represent life. The cry of a newborn babe, the sun rising over the mountains, the song of birds in the wilderness, the laughter of children... That is what I represent."

"Your words are as melodious, soothing, and well-crafted as your music," Sharra said with a slight smile. "But then as the sole remaining deity around here, I have to wonder just what other factions of the dead gods might find useful in your service... and whether you'd reward them with ability similar to what they once had. The Urians are of particular interest, as well as any other active in the Empire itself."

He snorted softly. "The Urians will receive nothing. And if they decide to start sacrificing babies again in an attempt to get my attention, they will be rewarded in kind, and not in the manner that they had hoped for." He shook his head. "Anything taken to extremes is bad. The Primos were not evil, per se, merely misguided. But for all their love of life, they forgot what that life truly means. They exiled their own solely because they did not wish to reproduce, and destroyed their own worlds to make room for more humans... But they misunderstood, and did not understand, that it is not only human life that they should value..." He looked very sad about that, his eyes sparkling as if almost in tears.

Sharra smirked shaking her head once. "Oh, I have my own thoughts on the Primos and their intolerance, belligerence, ignorance, supremacy..." she waved a hand in dismissal, "The list goes on and on, but despite that I'm still a servant of the greater good for _any_ people out there and recent events have left some serious questions needing answers." Ones she was increasingly and frustratingly aware that she would not find laid at the feet of this odd god.

"Madness runs deep, and in that you will find those who have lost everything will not be constrained from doing absolutely anything to regain a measure of something," he said enigmatically. "And that brilliance and creativity which might be turned to the service of life is instead turned to the service of death."

Sharra chuckled softly, recognizing a riddle and clue when she heard one, the cryptic comments not unfamiliar to her from days gone by. It wasn't something that makes sense at the moment, but perhaps after further consideration... she shook her head, setting the matter aside for now.

"What of the Jordans who serve you, and the beings who accompanied them here?" she asked.

He looked off thoughtfully and said, "Those two, one would cast no doubt upon their well-meaning, in spite of the spots which tar their history. The other two, however... the one is loyal and skillful, but the other... the other is angry and confused, and wishes war, but does not understand why."

Sharra thought about that, then smiled quietly. "I suppose I'll let that settle my own struggle to decide whether to strangle the one or not, at least." She sighed. "Unfortunately, as glad as that might make me, it bring me no closer to finding the answer to the puzzle I'm really after right now and there's a lot more at stake than just a handful of people on that one. I should go."

He smiled a bit more and nodded to her, and said, "Not everyone understands the reasons behind what they do. Some wish for change... but they are not fully prepared for the consequences of it. But, in the end, they will learn, if it does not drive them mad in the process."

He closed his eyes, and glowed for a moment, like a cloud of golden mist, swept away by a sudden breeze.

Sharra growled at the departing god and his cryptic quotes, then chuckled and headed back out of the temple. Well, so much for rampant paranoia... maybe she was getting too damned old for this job. She didn't head immediately back for the ship, instead going to poke around the base a bit more and add her own examination to what data they might collect.

She (almost literally) ended up running into Emily in the process. Several rods that she was carrying slipped out of her grasp and clattered against the ground.

"Pardon me!" Emily said, "I'm sorry, I couldn't see where I was going!" She proceeded to try to gather up the equipment again.

"Here, let me help you with that," Sharra said and chuckles softly, quickly moving to lend a hand collecting the scattered gear. Once everything appeared to be retrieved, she tilted her head. "Want me to carry some of this?" she asked, grinning. "Save you running into people if you can see what's ahead of you."

"Certainly." Emily said, heading off toward the manufacturing wing. "Gotta get those atmosphere converters up and running so we can change the atmosphere into something breathable. Most humanoids don't really like a lungful of ammonia and methane. Imagine that." She chuckled softly.

"Tsk, such picky people," Sharra replied facetiously, following after Emily and taking a careful look around as she went. "Working on terraforming and getting rid of the biodomes? That's got to be a fairly extensive and resource-intensive project."

Emily nodded. "Yeah, but Dr. Fadger thinks she might be able to come up with a way to produce synthetic luminite. That'll be a great power source and we could sell the excess so we wouldn't have to rely on drugs to bring in the credits."

"Synthetic luminite? The only things I've heard about attempts at that haven't gone well," Sharra said, then chuckled. "I hope you've got plenty of open space around wherever the research is going on."

She filed that away for reference and specific mention, the stated rationale seeming to mesh with what Sheniro had already said and chipping away at the confused welter of distrust a bit more.

"Yeeah," Emily said. "I made her take it out into space so she didn't start poking holes in the biodomes with it. But she seems pretty confident that she can manage it, anyway. And just as well, too, or we'll be dead broke soon since I reassigned the drug makers to more useful fields."

"So you're really looking at shutting down the illicit drug trade..." Sharra mused, glancing aside to the woman. "What do the Euphorians have to say about that? I wouldn't expect them to be too terribly happy about it."

"Of course they don't like it," Emily said. "They also don't like actually having to work for a change and do something other than sit around stoned and staring off and giggling occasionally." She snorted in disgust.

"I'd guess not," Sharra nodded. "But with the radical changes that you seem to be looking at, what's the final plan for this place? Sounds more like they're wanting a habitable, organized world rather than some... crazy, wacked-out religious faction base of operations."

"Meh. I've had enough of crazy, wacked out religious factions," Emily said. "Maybe now I'll have a chance finally to start over and make something, create someplace people would really want to live..."

"Sounds like a good goal to me," Sharra replied quietly. "I hope that the dream isn't one that gets trampled by bloodthirsty idiots or drug-crazed buffoons. It'd be interesting to see what could be made of this world, with a bit of work and dedication."

"It'll remain to be seen," Emily said with a sigh. "And Nihilian wants war machines. Bah! Who the hell does he think he's going to war with? The fool."

She shook her head. They reached the spot where some workers were busy constructing the atmosphere converters, and Emily put her equipment down in a pile nearby. Sharra unloaded herself as well, stacking the items with quick, neat efficiency, then turned to look at Emily.

"Don't let it get you down," Sharra said, "As long as you keep an eye on him, I think Abram may have been right in the long run." She smiled and nodded, then started to head off, suddenly far less certain of her own judgment in recent times.

Emily watched her go curiously for a moment, then shrugged and proceeded to lend a hand with the construction work a bit, insofar as much as an unskilled hand could assist at any rate.

Sharra stopped before getting beyond voice range and turned back, grinning a bit, "Oh, and tell Abram that Sharra wishes this..." she looked around, "good luck. Thanks Emily." With that, she turned and headed off at a brisk pace, shaking aside the distrust firmly for now and turning instead to other potentials for the source of the problem at hand.

Things just might be alright here after all, not that she wouldn't check now and again to see... but she was beginning to suspect that it would be more likely a case of lending a hand than curtailing a widespread problem.


	8. Making Arrangements

Having encountered Emily, Sharra headed back to the ship in thoughtful silence, an idea gnawing at her. Maybe that could deal with two points at once, provided someone didn't disapprove too greatly or one of the people involved refuse the idea.

Jenna and Zillah were about, having completely failed to find anything more than she had found out anyway, aside from locating some financial records that made it even less likely that Tijuana base was somehow involved in the assassination attempt on the president.

Sharra checked in with them, exchanged information, then smiled in bemusement at some unknown source. "We're not leaving just yet," she said and headed back for the sleeping compartment where Hays had been seen last.

Hays was still there, quietly reading over a data feed from the cybernet in hopes of finding some clue as to where his children might be at the moment and whether they were okay.

"Hello, Msr. Hays, hope I'm not interrupting anything important," Sharra said, entering and taking station near the entry. She studied him quietly, clearly thinking of something beyond mere pleasantries.

He put down the datapad and said, "No, of course not. What is it?"

"I've got a job offer for you, if you're interested," Sharra replied with a thin smile.

He raised an eyebrow. "Of what nature?"

"Nothing overly strenuous, just keeping an eye on things and reporting in on a regular basis," Sharra replied. "I can't guarantee that it'll be completely safe, but what really is anymore? Consider it a suspended sentence with benefits," she chuckled lightly, "and the pay would be 750k up-front, and you get to decide how long that will secure your loyalty and service."

That last was very deliberate, a poke at his pride, but she saw it as a chance for him to redeem a bit of that honor in his own eyes if nothing else.

He smirked a bit indignantly and said, "I'll do it."

Sharra chuckled and grinned, then motioned to the hatch. "Come on, then, time to see a couple people about making a deal." She headed out, leaving the ship again and threaded her way back through the complex to the cubby she'd found Abram in the last time, hoping he was home.

Tim followed along after her. Back at Abram's apartment, he was currently eating a dinner of something green and something white with brown stuff, that might or might not be peas, potatoes and gravy.

"Well at least you're not in your boxers this time," Sharra said by way of greeting, smirking. "Feel like talking a little walk, Abram? I'd like to talk with you and Emily."

Abram shoved his "food" in the recycler and said, "Okay, sure. Really need to get them to install replicators..." he muttered.

It must be pretty bad if he was wishing for replicated food over it.

"Not even a moment of confusion as to identity, I must be losing my touch," Sharra chuckled. "Shall we go see if she's still around the last place I saw her, or do you have some more efficient means of contacting her without running all over this screwy base?"

"Nope, no idea where she might be at the moment," he said brightly, heading over for the door.

Sharra snorted. "I hope your tracking skills are better than that smelled," she gestured in the direction of the recycler.

She quirked a brow as a woman quietly appeared from somewhere nearby and unobtrusively moved to follow them. Something... not quite right there, and she couldn't put her finger on it, but she'd leave it for the moment. She headed back out to check in the area she'd last seen Emily.

Emily wasn't too far from where they saw her, overseeing some construction work and running over datapads with inventory lists, making sure they have everything they'll need for the moment.

Sharra approached Emily, waiting until the woman's attention shifts toward her group and then offering a nod. "Hello again. Is there somewhere nearby that we could talk in private? Or," she smirked, looking back over her entourage, "at least as private as this gaggle allows for."

Emily smirked faintly and shrugs, and waved them over toward a nearby makeshift office of sorts. It was cluttered and small, but at least it had a nicely soundproof door. Which was always useful when there was noisy construction going on outside.

Sharra waited until everyone was inside and the noise of building was cut off, then looked to Emily. "Abram already knows who I am, but we've only met informally. My name's Sharra Silverhair, currently of the Empress' Own, and this gentleman is Msr. Tim Hays."

Emily blinked for a moment and said, "Oh. Er, hello. I'm not under arrest am I?"

Sharra chuckled. "No, I'm not here for that, and in fact would like to arrange for something that might help keep that from happening..." her expression sobered as she continued, "You have to be aware that there's a great deal of unease and distrust about what's going on here, between the various priests going insane and from the past activities associated with the Euphorians."

Emily gave a nod and said, "Priests going insane? Well, I suppose it stands to reason considering how their gods were destroyed..."

"Indeed." Sharra nodded. "And after being granted an audience with Sheniro, I've come to think that perhaps some of my own assumptions have been the product of long-time habit and suspicion. I'd like to put things right in that regard, and I think I've come up with a plan that would suit all of us quite well. If you'll agree to it, I'd like to leave Msr. Hays here to observe and report to me on a regular basis. The more he's allowed to see and relay, the more the fears of the Empire may be allayed or defused by the Empress. It'd do you a lot of good, and you wouldn't have to worry too much about a fleet dropping in on you from the Empire as long as things really stay on the up-and-up."

Emily nods and said a little uneasily, "I won't be held responsible if Nihilian decides to do something stupid. Though I'll try to restrain him a bit..."

"That one..." Sharra looked over at Abram. "I know you thought he could be reformed, do you still believe that?"

Abram said hesitantly, "I don't know. It's possible. If he can get this whole trying to turn this place into an arsenal out of his head."

Sharra sighed. "Alright, I'm going to leave that to you then, but I can pretty much guarantee that if you _do_ start churning out the tools of war you're going to end up with a lot more trouble than it's worth. The only thing I ask is this... If he can't be reformed, or controlled, then I want warning of it _before_ I end up having to clean up a mess that he's the cause of. I don't like picking up after warzones."

Emily nodded in agreement and said, "I'll kick his ass myself if I have to. There's no way in hell I'm crazy enough to send a bunch of drug addicts to war against the Empire."

Maybe this would work, Sharra mused, and with enough honest information flow the politicos could be soothed and convinced to leave the place alone. "That does leave one question open, though," she said, "Reports said something about a demon being with you at one point..." she arched a brow, "Having seen many creatures that fall under that category, I admit that wasn't exactly a reassuring bit of information. Anything you can tell me on that front?"

"Demons?" Emily snorted softly. "Whatever gave them that idea?"

"Scanner information when you passed through one of the Empire's systems," Sharra replied.

"Their scanners showed something with wings and horns and talons and a barbed tail?"

"Demons aren't necessarily of any standard form," Sharra replies dryly, "I'm sure I could get you the data if that would clarify the matter. It reported four entities, including yourself and Abram, Nihilian, and the creature."

"That 'creature' you speak of is this young woman over here," Emily said, pointing to the daemonette with a bit of a smirk.

Sharra looked over at the woman and examined her intently, the oddity she'd felt suddenly making sense. The daemonette remained blandly attentive, restraining the urge to preen or otherwise react to the sudden interest, recognizing the moment as not particularly good for drawing too much attention. That in itself was new and odd, it blinked in surprise, since when was any restraint desirable or even possible?

A moment longer and Sharra returned her attention to Emily, "And what does that mean, exactly?"

"Well, certainly she's not really human, regardless of what she looks like, but does that necessarily mean she's evil?"

Sharra thought back, remembering something Sheniro had said in passing... "Loyal and skilled, hmm?" she murmured absently. "No, I'm the first one to recognize that appearances can certainly be deceiving, where the vile can be pure and the beautiful reek of malice." She looked back to the creature thoughtfully, then snorted. "Alright, I'll leave it at that, though I can't speak for anyone else doing so. Which leaves one more matter...."

Emily raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"It may seem a bit odd," Sharra replied. "But I'd like to invest a bit in your operation, a token of faith if you want to call it that. I'm no government, but I think ten million should give at least a few more days for you to work around the problem of creating a supportable export industry."

Emily blinked for a moment in surprise. That was clearly about the last thing she expected. "Well, I'd hardly complain much, but just one question. Why?"

"Because it's the right thing to do?" Sharra replied. "Or maybe just that I'd like to invest something in the future, something I've always done here and there when I could. Other than that..." she tilted her head and offered a quiet smile, "I'm afraid the reasoning is too nebulous and wrapped up in history to make any real sense."

Emily gave a nod and said, "I appreciate it.. I'll try not to disappoint, then." She chuckled softly.

At conversion rates that came out to about two hundred years of her life, so it was really no token gesture, but... Sharra sighed inwardly, reflecting on another god's words entirely, and accepted it for the closure that it was.

"I'll see to arranging a transfer at your convenience, as well as the payment I've promised to Msr. Hays," she says, "Just keep information flowing, okay?"

"Keep the analysts back in the Empire busy enough trying to figure out what you're really up to and they'll be as happy as can be," she chuckled, turning to look at Hays. "And maybe Abram can lend a hand on your behalf as well. I'd be very surprised if his contacts among the Death Dancers couldn't help resolve your own questions."

Emily nodded. "I'll be sure to do so and make arrangements." Abram just smiled a bit. Hays nodded. People nodded. Everyone nodded.

"I guess that's about it then," Sharra said. "I'll let you people get back to your duties and head back to mine as well. Good luck."

She headed for the door, planning to arrange for the transfers she'd mentioned and then get back to the ship. There was still a problem to be solved, but at least this one could be set aside for now... she only hoped the Empress wouldn't be annoyed at the unorthodox approach.

They headed off and proceed to get back to work and arranging various things. Back at the ship, Zillah and Jenna were sitting around like extra party members hanging around in the airship waiting to be played.

Sharra returned to the ship in a thoughtful silence, settling into a seat and rubbing her eyes with the heels of her hands wearily. "Okay, so this wasn't a complete waste of time, but we're really no closer to finding the reason behind that idiot's attempted assassination."

"Well, at least we know who _didn't_ do it," Jenna said. "And that's hardly nothing in and of itself."

Sharra sighed and nodded. "True, but the more I look at it and think about the hints Sheniro gave, the more I wonder if looking outside the Primos themselves will turn up what we're looking for. Sure, the Urians have had the abilities required but it's not their style as you've mentioned, nor do I think they're probably really organized enough right now to have pulled that off. Who else would gain through this, though?"

"The Cybions?" Jenna suggested. "Some other group entirely, maybe even one we haven't heard of? Maybe we should check the cybernet for any rumors about it..."

"May as well," Sharra replied. "Also take a look at their church, seeing as they'd also fall under the heading of groups who have lost power, would like to get it back, and would certainly benefit from a rousing bit of conflict to rally the people. Damn it, there's just too many who would like to see this happen."

Jenna leaned back to see about accessing the cybernet to see what she could find. "Yes, a lot of people may have motives to doing this, perhaps, but who also has both the means and the opportunity? And most of the ones who wanted the President dead would have made sure he was dead, not..."

"That's the tricky part," Sharra agreed. "Not only the resources but still breathing, which would seem to knock out some of the factions right there. The Urians? No, they would have made sure of it in as grisly a way as possible. Cybions? Doubtful, they're already distrusted by the Empire, and I got the impression that was equally if not more true among the Primos from Msr. Hays. An inside job?" she growled faintly, "Too damned possible, including access to alter evidence that might be turned against them or redirect security forces from getting too close. Rargh."

Among the various rumors the cybernet turned up was speculation toward any number of wild possibilities, from the Primos themselves, to a staged attempt by the president himself as an excuse to go to war again, to the Urians, the Cybions, even the Chaos remnants and the Elkandu.

"Now why would the Empress not want General Weiss to know about what we're investigating?" Sharra mused, seemingly on a tangent.

"She didn't want him to jump to the conclusion that it must be true and start a war?"

Sharra relaxed, closing her eyes in thought. "I don't know. To be honest, unless something else turns up to provide a path of inquiry, I don't see where else we can look at the moment." Her fingers tapped a slow, rhythmic tattoo on her thigh, clearly still prodding at the subject inwardly.

"Well, the cybernet's not turning up anything useful for me. Just wilder and wilder rumors and speculation. Don't see anyone that seems to know more than they ought to, either..."

"Which means either they're smart and have covered their tracks well," Sharra replied. "Or there's just nothing to be found in the outlying sectors."

"Or I'm looking in the wrong place. Or I'm dismissing some of these posts as wild speculation." Jenna sighed.

"There's one group that's bound to get targeted in this that we haven't talked to," Sharra said. "Where would we find the rabbitfolk? May not provide anything useful, but it's certainly no worse than banging our skulls against the bulkhead."

"Planet Sydney, primarily, although there's a bunch of them scattered all over the place," Jenna said.

"Sydney it is then," Sharra said. "A homeworld is generally a good place to find more specific information on known factions and opinion trends than random samplings scattered here and there."

Zillah proceeded to take off and head that way. Sharra left Zillah to the piloting, just another bit of practice for the girl, and went back to revert to her normal appearance. Disguising oneself for a while was one thing, but not on too long a term basis.


	9. Carrots

After some while, they arrived in the Sydney system, which was actually apparently in Imperial space and not far from the planet Primus, only one jump away. Zillah brought them in for a landing on planet Sydney. It was a rather nicer planet than Primus all things considered, being quite a bit less heavily populated and still having large sections of wilderness.

Sharra emerged after the ship lands, pausing in the hatchway to lift her muzzle and take a breath of the world's scent. It was not, perhaps, the most politic thing to resume her normal guise, a wolf among rabbits, but then it had always been her experience that the animalistic species tended to get along a lot better than the ever-arrogant humans. She exited and took a look around the landing field, examining this unknown world.

The first thing she noticed was that Death Dancer bunnies had taken up positions of defense on and around this world. There were a good many of them, glad to be able to come home at last. And unlike the civilian rabbits, they showed absolutely no fear of her. They nodded to her cordially in greeting.

That could be interpreted in two ways, either as an eagerness to return home following the long years of exile or a darker expectation of danger for some lurking, unseen reason. Sharra was inclined to believe the former, however, the bonds of family and home a familiar tug at the heart for her. She merely wandered, observed, and listened for a while, politely responding to greetings and projecting a non-threat toward the more timid among them.

Somewhere would be a lone Death Dancer, or perhaps a group, that would catch her eye and draw her to speak with them a bit in search of information, if she didn't find a governmental office first in her meandering path.

The only thing resembling a government office was a small, unobtrusive city hall atop one of the larger hills in town. There's a sign on the door that showed a carrot and said "Back in an hour".

Sharra chuckled, the sign tickling her sense of humor for one reason and another, then headed off to wander the area nearby and observe the rabbitfolk in their native environs. She wasn't really looking for anything in particular, just staying alert and analytical regarding what she saw.

Although the place was primarily populated by rabbits, there were a smattering of humans and other species to be seen, such as gophers, ferrets, kangaroos, koalas, and platypi. Zillah managed to restrain laughter at the sight of one of a family of platypi.

Things certainly seem less... Sharra tried to identify the difference in quality between this world and Primus, the simple answer of 'crowded' not quite answering for all of it. She had seen hiveworlds with less an aura of general malaise and decay than Primus, yet there was no hint of that here, nor the whiff of menace or fear on the breeze. Maybe she was letting their policies flavor her perceptions.

"Oi, g'day, mate!" said a kangaroo, hopping up to her. "Would you like to buy some authentic, hand-crafted figurines?" The kangaroo proceeded to pull some of her merchandise out of her pouch to show her. "Only five credits apiece!"

Sharra tilted her head, not usually having any real interest or use for knickknacks or other collectibles that would just get in the way of traveling light. "What do you have?" she asked, curious to see what the local tourist industry was apt to foist off on those who came through.

"Ah, I have these fine hand-carved figurines made from the native rock of the planet Sydney," he said, showing her several figurines depicting various species in different poses. "I have a wide array of selections available, and more at my shop if you don't see something you like here!" The handful he was carrying included a kangaroo with a joey, a rabbit with a blaster, a wolf with its arms crossed, and a fox that appeared to be giggling.

Sharra was reminded of the single clue which had connected the business to the rabbitfolk, wondering where the emblem had come from... "Hmm," she said, studying the figurines and then glancing aside to Zillah with a faint grin, "Anything look interesting to you?"

Zillah looked over them and giggled a bit. "They're cute. But what would I do with little figurines?"

Sharra chuckled, the answer deciding her in the matter, as well as the choice of figures. "I'll take that one," she pointed to the giggling fox and paid the man.

"An excellent choice," he said, wrapping it up for her and handing it over. "Thank you very much! Have a wonderful day, mates."

Sharra nodded and continued onward, glancing aside at Zillah with a quiet smile. "It can't all be about chasing people down and problem solving. Oh sure, I don't have a lot of things myself that aren't useful to my job, but that's not necessarily an example you want to follow."

Zillah chuckled, and said, "I wonder what the fox was laughing at..."

They passed by a restaurant with two giant carrots crossed making up its doorway, and a sign proclaiming it the Carrot House. Across the street there was a hardware store/farm supply shop.

Sharra handed the wrapped figurine to the girl. "Well that's a mystery for you to figure out, isn't it? Just what might it have seen to inspire its mirth, what grand tale might have led to the jest? Maybe you can come up with a story to explain it during your downtime, hmm?"

She turned in the direction of the restaurant, if nothing else than to see something more of the locals and get Zillah a taste of their cuisine.

Zillah pocketed it and followed her inside. The Carrot House was cozy and warm, well-lit, and had tables and chairs done up like carrot slices and sticks. A sign near the door said, "Come in and seat yourself". It wasn't too busy right now, about half the tables having people seated at them, most of them rabbits along with two humans, a koala, and a kangaroo.

Nice place, if a bit too heavy on the theme, Sharra chuckled inwardly. She headed for a table a bit separated from the others to allow for a bit of quiet and semi-privacy for the meal, and settled into a comfortable crouch next to it. Apparently Jenna stayed with the ship or wandered off somewhere at some point.

Shortly, a brown rabbit in a waiter's uniform came up to their table and said, "Hello, my name is Reginald and I will be your server today." He offered them a pair of menus. The menus were datapads with neat lists and categories and images of all courses.

"Thanks you," Sharra nodded and smiled politely, then set the menu he'd given her on the table without any further examination. She had a feeling that this little sidetrack wasn't going to produce anything of note, and leave them without anything further to pursue for now, but it was worthwhile for the experience and closer view of another of the Empire's worlds.

Zillah looked over the menu thoughtfully, finding a surprisingly wide selection of carnivorous food available in a purportedly vegetarian restaurant. Rather like how one can frequently find hamburgers available at "seafood" restaurants... As she was looking over the selection, Sharra noticed one of the patrons wearing a neck-chain with a pendant exactly like the one Constable O'Connor had shown them.

Sharra watched and listened for any sign of further interest regarding the patron wearing the pendant, storing their image for later reference as well as a sample of their voice should they speak. The symbol may be something completely harmless, designed only to divert suspicion on the rabbitfolk, but such was the sort of information they'd come seeking.

The female rabbit took a seat at a table across from her, oblivious to the attention. She was accompanied by a bear and a beaver. "This place has _the_ best carrot cakes," she said to her companions.

Sharra continued to observe, remaining carefully unobvious about it or at least as much as was possible. She wondered whether the emblem reflected some group affiliation or was a religious symbol? That was something she'd have to find out one way or another, a task easily accomplished by asking in more appropriate settings.

Their waiter returned and said, "Have you decided what you would like yet?"

At the next table, the rabbit, bear, and beaver proceeded to chat about the weather, the economy, and other trivialities.

"Nothing for me, thanks," Sharra replied, then grinned slightly. "I rather suspect that my companion will have a list for you, though."

There were some minor social disadvantages to the choice not to ingest, but overall the advantage of being able to remain focused and alert outweighed them to her.

Zillah ordered some pasta and salad.

The waiter said, "Will that be all? Can I get you something to drink?" and once assured of those, took the menus and headed off.

The beaver at the next table says, "I hear Bennett Engineering is talking about expanding the jump gate network now that the war is over."

"That's all you decided on?" Sharra asked with a brow raised in mock surprise. "I assumed you'd be wearing the poor rabbitfolk out bringing your meal." She chuckled, and in the meanwhile searched through the cybernet for any information regarding this engineering company or any reference to the emblem.

Bennett Engineering was apparently the largest company in its field and was responsible for the construction and maintenance of the jump gate network. The pendant was a bit harder to track down, but she eventually brought up some articles about rabbit religion. Rabbits were forbidden from being Primos due to their reproductive capabilities, and many of them become Death Dancers.

So it was a religious symbol after all, Sharra mused and dug for what information might be found on the organization itself. That one had been found could be interpreted yet again in a number of different ways, whether as honest evidence, a plant to point the finger at the rabbitfolk in general, or a multi-layered accusation to discredit the religion and allow it to be capitalized on when the plot unfolded.

She really needed to stop thinking of so many dark and twisted possibilities, but the habit was a hard one to break after so long.

The rabbits' "religion", apparently, did not involve the worship of any particular deities, although it did have its spiritual side with legendary heroes and the like. Apparently most of them believed in reincarnation as well.

Not the type of religion that tended to inspire crazed cultists or assassins, from Sharra's experience, since heroes tended to be reliant more on a sense of honor than skulking in shadows. There had been exceptions throughout history, of course, but the societies that spawned them had tended toward short and bloody reigns.

A further interesting thing to note... the rabbits _created_ the Dancers on the Edge of Death hundreds of years ago. Death Dancer beliefs in general were not wholly different from the rabbits' philosophy as a whole, only the practice thereof. Death Dancers were also greatly honored among the rabbits, and many of their "legendary heroes" were Death Dancers who sacrificed themselves for some noble cause.

Sharra growled inwardly, hating politics and the stench of anything that they came in contact with. Each facet of 'evidence' for the 'failed' assassination attempt only seemed to bring another aspect and layer of possible gain and subversion of the general good, and she was glad that the conversion didn't allow for such things or she'd be sure to have a migraine by now.

The waiter returned with Zillah's food, and she cheerfully started eating.

The bear at the next table said, "Did you hear that the rabbits have been implicated in the assassination attempt on President Whitetree?"

The rabbit snorted softly and said, "Yeah, it's a bunch of crap if you ask me. If it'd been a rabbit that did it, they'd have _succeeded_."

Sharra's ears perked faintly at that, wondering just who the _hell_ had let slip that kind of information in such a way that it was becoming gossip among the common populace. Not that she didn't agree with the sentiment regarding the likelihood of death though, she chuckled inwardly. The question remained as to who let it leak, and there would be some very pointed ones in that regard soon.

"They'll be pointing fingers anyway, though," the beaver said. "They're damned Primos, they don't care if it's right or not, only that someone takes the blame for it."

Unfortunately Sharra couldn't argue with that sentiment, in fact was quite grimly aware of it and the probable repercussions if the real culprit wasn't unmasked and their plot brought to light. That the opinion existed and was openly aired, and shared, did not speak well of the relations between the two worlds and that was only bound to get worse.

The bear grunted. "And they've put out a one million credit reward for the culprit too," he said. "I wouldn't mind a piece of that myself..."

Sharra's eyes narrowed, glinting with a flash of anger at that little bit of news. Someone was walking quite quickly beyond the bounds of legal procedure, placing a bounty out when there wasn't anything more than wisps of smoke for them to go on and threatening the beginning of a witch hunt. Oh yes, there would be a few questions asked...

"Yeah, too bad you don't know anything," the rabbit said, rolling her eyes. "And too bad they'll just arrest anyone that goes trying to lie about knowing something just for the money."

"So how is it?" Sharra asked in quiet conversational tones, directing the idle comment to Zillah even as she continued to listen.

Zillah said, "It's good. But who puts carrots in spaghetti sauce?"

The beaver said, "So who do _you_ think really did it?"

The rabbit said, "If I thought I had any idea, I'd be out there trying to collect that bounty myself."

Sharra blinked, the question shifting more of her attention to Zillah with perplexed amusement. "Carrots. In spaghetti sauce..." she chuckled and shook her head. "I guess you can only expect it from a restaurant with tables shaped like them. Still strange."

The conversation at the next table shifted to more mundane matters of work. Zillah shortly finished up her meal and the waiter returned to take her plates and offer dessert. Zillah ordered the carrot cake.

"I've heard it's quite good," Sharra remarked lightly, grinning, then turned to examine the recordings of the conversation as the grin faded to leave a blank expression.


	10. Blackfang Pack

Frustration might be a natural response to the continuing dead ends that had been encountered, the lack of any real motivation or likely involvement in the faked assassination, but Sharra isn't overly disturbed by it as she headed back to the landing field. She was accustomed to running into blind alleys and having to sift through vast amounts of trivial data in pursuit of the single clue which would lead to a break. The problem at this moment was what to pursue next...

Zillah followed along after her, and Jenna was located at the ship as well, having been pursuing her own ends, with little more luck.

"Nice planet," Sharra remarked as she returned to the Firefly's cockpit and settled into one of the seats. "Let's hope it stays that way."

She didn't show any immediate inclination to take off, as no direction was immediately apparent, and tuned into the cybernet to see what else might be found. There'd be questions to be asked of the Primo government soon enough regarding the bounty and leak of information on the case.

Jenna told what she found out, which was exactly nothing. The cybernet, however, was much more enlightening. Apparently, the secretary of defense of Primus was responsible for the bounty and such. But the net also seemed to indicate that they didn't really think that the rabbits were at all connected to it.

That last little bit was interesting, as it would imply that a whisper campaign had been set into motion to spread rumors contrary to it. The approach was damned hard to counter or remove, though, since it required only a single word to be placed in the right ear at the right time to start the thing going.

Sharra thought about it, then started to look into the known factions who had an axe to grind with the various groups that would seem to be targets of the 'evidence' acquired around the assassination. Somewhere in all this mess would be a thread to follow.

With the tangled mess that made up Karzan politics, sometimes it seemed like everyone hated everyone else. The Urians weren't too happy with the Death Dancers for resisting their attempts at subverting their religion. The only ones who hate the Rabbits as a whole were a group called the Predators, although information on them was sketchy and second-hand at best.

Sharra smirked to herself, the Predators, how original. She looked for additional information on them, any suspected members or connections which could be approached and investigated. They weren't the only ones, of course, as the Primos themselves had a longstanding tradition of supremacist tendencies.

From what she could gather, the Predators were considered cannibals by some and liked to hunt people down to eat them. They dislike the Rabbits because they were so defiant of their placid, herbivorous nature.

"Delightful people," Sharra mused quietly, ears flicking in distaste.

It was one thing to consider eating another species due to inherent biological imperatives, but cannibalism was generally considered a mental and societal aberration regardless. A group to look further into, without doubt, but until further information could be gained that might lead to them she continued processing and cross-checking data for other leads.

There _was_ some information on where they might be found. Apparently they tracked in "packs" and were particularly prevalent in the Kenya system. There weren't many Cybions among their ranks, however, hence few of them used the cybernet themselves, but some users of it had had encounters with them.

"Hmm," Sharra murmured thoughtfully, then drew the information to the attention of the other two. "What do you think? Shall we go and take a look into what these wonderful people are up to these days?"

Jenna raised an eyebrow at it and said, "I don't know that they'd involve themselves in something like this, but..."

"Never hurts to check things out," Sharra replied. "This thing already has so many screwy directions in it that I'm not willing to say that anyone's not involved without taking a look first. I'd swear it was an assassination by committee!"

Jenna gave a nod. "Stranger things have happened. Kenya system then?"

"Kenya it is," Sharra agreed, then grinned over at Zillah with a cocked ear. "Whenever you're ready, mon Capitan?"

Zillah nodded, and took the ship off and headed for the Kenya system through the jump gate network. It was only a few hops away from their current location.

Sharra pulled up what information she could during the transit and sifted through it for anything of interest. Although not much was known about the specifics of this group, it was known that there weren't many humans among their ranks, and they could be very territorial at times.

The trip to Kenya was brief and traffic wasn't too bad in that direction. Apparently it wasn't a very popular tourist destination, and the jump gate to the system itself looked pretty disused lately.

Sharra considered the data, glancing thoughtfully to her companions, and wondered whether it would be better to approach alone as a less obtrusive outsider or to go in and stir things as much as possible by bringing humans with her.

"Care to take a general look around while I see what can be found specifically about the Predators?" she asked. "It could be advantageous to get a couple different looks at this thing."

Jenna gave a bit of a shrug as Zillah took them through the last jump gate. "I've never really had much contact with them myself. Not that they'd bother with me, anyway. There's not enough of me to eat."

Sharra chuckled. "No need to offer temptation, and I'd provide them even less of a meal as well as bearing the appearance of a predatory breed myself. You two can check for a general gauge of the population's temperament while I go take a look then, the lack of regular traffic through here could have all sorts of potential reasons and repercussions that we may as well scout out since we're here."

On the other side of the jump gate, they were immediately met by half a dozen fighter ships. They weren't of a class of ship used by either the rebellion or the Empire. A voice over the comm snarled at them, "Know, strangers, that this is Blackfang Pack territory!"

"Mm," Sharra muttered, then flicked the comm on through the link. "This is the unaligned ship Firefly, and we acknowledge receipt of your transmission, though an explanation of expected conduct or other requirements would be appreciated."

There was a pause, and the voice replied, "Dock at the Blackfang Base," coordinates to a base near the case appeared on the map. "Our leaders will determine if you will be allowed to proceed."

"Acknowledged," Sharra replied blandly and disabled the comm with a smirk to her companions. "I can see why the tourist trade around here is somewhat less than appealing. Let's play along with their little game for now."

Zillah took them toward the base. It wasn't a very large base, certainly not along the lines of the likes of Epsilon Station, but its docking bays looked sufficient to hold about fifty ships, tops. The thing looked fairly haphazard and thrown together from scrap.

Sharra examined the base thoughtfully, a series of societal and anthropological assertions and theories posing themselves in her mind to account for the state of what they'd seen thus far. She set the line of thought aside as they headed in to land, waiting to add further experiential data to the mixture.

"Let's go see our hosts and find what they have to say," she said.

Zillah docked them at the base and Jenna popped the hatch and went to climb out. Sharra did a quick, habitual check of her weapons, then went to follow Jenna out. This should prove... interesting.

Rather immediately apparent was the fact that this particular base was populated entirely by humanoid wolves. Zillah came out close behind Sharra, sealing the hatch behind her.

Sharra moved a few paces away from the hatch and then folded her arms to wait. They'd been instructed to come here, it was now in their host's court to move things along with the new arrivals. In the meantime, she examined her surroundings and its inhabitants on a number of different levels.

They were a ragy bunch, and didn't look to be too far above the level of pure savagery. Their clothing was torn and filthy, stained with blood, those who were bothering to wear any at all. They looked over to the new arrivals with feral looks, but seeing Jenna and Zillah's Death Dancer marks, knew well enough to leave them the hell alone.

Sharra idly wondered just how long it would be before this ragtag bunch would revert to complete savagery and technological ignorance if they continued along the path they seemed determined to. It wasn't exactly a sign of a healthy or progressive societal structure, and she doubted it would remain stable for too much longer without some radical change.

She was content to wait a while longer yet to allow their hosts to make the first move, seeing a possible use of a common game to unsettle visitors by making them wait. Whether those in charge here were still sophisticated enough to do so was another question.

After several long minutes, it became fairly apparent that nobody was planning on coming to meet them. Perhaps the patrollers were just hoping they'd come aboard and get eaten or something. Sharra looked over at Jenna and Zillah with clear amusement, then snorts and gestured with a tilt of her muzzle.

"Either they forgot about us or someone out there was getting above themselves. No matter, let's take a look around." She headed off toward one of the bay's exits.

There was an old, clunky lift with an "Out of Order" sign hanging over it. Two corridors led off in different directions, and a staircase wound up and down to the other floors. Sharra considered the choices, then took the stairwell leading up. Not uncommon in sentient thought to place commanders on a higher level for psychological reasons.

She arrived in what could only be called an operations room, with blinking displays and screens around the room and a few workers in greasy overalls trying to keep the entire thing running.

"This place is a disgrace," Sharra muttered with a distasteful look around, a disdain born of a society that had raised itself from technological barbarism long ago and strove ever to move onward through the neat and orderly corridors.

She shook her head and went to take a closer look, the fall of their society ultimately not her place to comment on. Across from the ops room, there was a door on the far wall, decorated with furs and skulls and smeared with blood. The engineers made it a point to avoid that room. Sharra looked at the display, and the engineers' avoidance of it, with mild, weary amusement, then headed for the door to take a look beyond. No one ever said she was particularly subtle or inclined toward being overawed.

The room beyond was filled with trophies of all sorts. Pelts of various animals -- bear, tiger, and rabbit were recognizable -- carpeted the floor, deer antlers decorated the walls, but they weren't just any animals, they were clearly humanoid-shaped and sized animals. Another door led off into what might be a bedroom, and snoring could be heard from inside.

Sharra looked at the 'trophies' speculatively, somehow doubting that they were donated from natural corpses or willing live volunteers considering the general appearance of health in the coats. Proof was another matter, unfortunately, and while she might dearly love to approach it in another manner she walked over and opened the door quietly to take a look within.

There was a large, muscular wolf asleep on a bed of pelts, snoring away blissfully, his leg twitching from time to time. Sharra propped herself casually in the doorway, smirked, and then began to emit a high-frequency wave that would be barely audible to an unaugmented human but would twist into a canid ear like a knife. The volume was low at first as she checked for a reaction from the sleeper and adjusted the frequency minutely until the desired range was found, then jumped to a level that could nearly be felt in the air.

The large, black-furred wolf twitched and jumped to his feet, peering around irritably as his eyes landed on Sharra in the doorway.

Sharra's muzzle closed, silencing the irritating sound, and she inclined her head with clear amusement. "Good day. May I presume you're in some sort of leadership position for this 'Blackfang Pack' that hailed my ship upon entering the system?"

He looked at her hard and snarled, "I am the Alpha. I am Kestor Blackfang."

"Oh, the alpha," Sharra replied, subtle shifted of her expression adding a sardonic note. "Then surely you're the one I should be reporting to in order to find out what's expected in 'Blackfang Pack territory', hmm? I'm afraid our welcoming committee was less than illuminating in that regard, and perish the thought of blundering into some faux pas!"

He snorted a bit. "Oh, you're a stranger are you? An outsider? You're one of those _civilized_ wolves who think you're so much better than the rest of us, we who embrace our ancestry, who _revel_ in what we are rather than deny it and pretend to be like _humans_?"

Sharra barked laughter at the retort, pushing away from the doorway. "Be like humans? Please! If I wanted to engage in random and useless slaughter I'd just join some rabid outworld movement intent on setting aside the very things that make us a cut above that kind of savagery and barbarism." She snorted, then grinned. "Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, care to tell me what's expected here, oh wise and mighty alpha? My companions and I intend to take a look around and see if there's any connection to a case we're currently investigating."

"Go where you like and do what you want, if you're strong enough to avoid being killed," he grunted back at her, rolling his eyes a bit.

"How enlightened," Sharra replied, then glanced over her shoulder back at the other room and its trophies before returning her attention to him. "I don't suppose you would care to comment on the decorating scheme out there, would you? Quite the collection, I must say."

He grinned toothily, revealing that one of his fangs was, indeed, very black. "Oh yes, all taken with my own claws, too."

"Impressive," Sharra said, donning a suitably matching expression, "And I assume you're not talking about donated corpses either, eh?"

He snorted softly. "Survival of the fittest. If you're not strong enough to survive, you don't deserve to. And anyone wandering into our territory is fair game. Hah! How many of the fools came to land on this station and were torn apart!"

"I see," Sharra said and nodded slowly, then tilted her head in query. "So, do you suppose that I need to rattle off the list of codes you've just admitted to violating, from murder to piracy? Or can we dispense with that and you can come along quietly? Either works for me."

She settled into an easy, ready position, allowing him the first move and highly doubting he won't tack 'resisting arrest' and the like to his guilt.

He snarled some more. "What are you, some sort of cop? How dare you come into Predator space and state the likes of _laws_! The only law here is the law of nature."

"A cop?" Sharra chuckled softly. "Oh, you could say something like that, and much to your dismay I think that you'll find there are indeed laws which supersede the apparent descent into barbarism you seem intent on pursuing. Now, are we going to do this the easy or hard way? On you, that is."

She unclipped the cylinder from her belt and the staff flowed outward to its useful state... a prisoner was warranted in this case. He snarled, and proceeded to attack her.

"Hard it is," Sharra said calmly, having waited for the moment, and stepped forward with a spin of the heavy metallic staff in an attempt to catch the wolf beneath the jaw. She caught him hard, and his own movement exacerbated that. There was a loud _CRACK!_ as something clearly broke and he went flying into the floor to sprawl limp across the ground.

Sharra shook her head sharply and moved to examine the downed wolf cautiously, wary of any sudden spike in vital readings that would signal a return to awareness. She scanned the affected area for any signs of injury that might endanger his survival, impairing breathing or any other vital function. Apparently the attack was enough to snap his neck. He died instantly.

Sharra growled and slammed the butt of her staff angrily to the ground as she straightened and stepped away from the body. "Damn," she muttered, looking around with a frown.

Zillah and Jenna were quietly waiting past the doorway in the entry room. Jenna peered in raising an eyebrow, having heard sounds of a fight.

Sharra growled, angry more at herself than anything else as she retracted the staff and set it back in place at her belt. Killing someone unintentionally was sloppy as hell, it happened sometimes but she still wasn't happy about it. She crouched to look at the wolf and sighed, mind turning over ways that killing their damned bull-headed alpha could be turned to an advantage.

From the ops room, three more wolves were coming in behind them casually. They probably didn't hear the ruckus inside or know what happened yet.

Sharra smirked, shrugging inwardly at the bizarre twist of a notion, then gripped the wolf by the scruff as she stood and dragged him back toward the ops room. She paused in the doorway separating the two and tossed the body out in a low arc.

"Get that garbage out of here."

Time to see just how well they had adapted to the old ways... They stopped a few meters away and looked at her and the body in surprise.

"She's killed the old Alpha. She's the new Alpha," one of them said. The other two went to haul the body off.

"Yeah, about what I thought," Sharra muttered and sighed inwardly, then turned back to go inside the private chambers and closed the separating door. She looked at Jenna and Zillah with a quirked grin. "One day I'll learn to overlook the little things, but it's not going to be today. Now I get to decide what to do with these poor, wayward lambs. May the old gods have pity on me!"

Jenna observed, "For lambs, they have awfully sharp teeth." She smirked a bit.

Zillah said, "What happened?"

Sharra leaned back against a wall with mental weariness and rubbed her muzzle. "The idiot not only bragged of his murderous ways, including piracy of ships directed to land here just like we were, but he refused to surrender peacefully. Unfortunately, the resulting brief encounter resulted in the fool acquiring a snapped neck. Damn, damn, damn."

"Guess he wasn't such a great warrior after all," Jenna said with a sigh. "So what now?"

"Now that," Sharra replied, a spark of humor rising, "is the big question, isn't it? Can't exactly leave this ragtag band of fugitives from the north woods roaming around the spaceways to sucker in new victims, can we? And you heard them..." she jerked a thumb to the door, "I put him out of his misery, that makes me the alpha. How quaint. Argh."

"Well, maybe you could just.. tell them to stop?" Zillah proposed.

Sharra shook her head. "Won't be that easy, I'm afraid. They're hell-bound and determined to return to a feral, predatory state. I tell them to stop and they're going to ignore me at best. No, what they need is another direction to turn their instincts toward..." she glanced at Jenna, "Happen to know of any wilderness worlds? I could think of any number back in the galaxies where they could hunt to their heart's content."

Jenna said, "The Primos have taken over most habitable worlds around the core for their own purposes, but some in the fringe are still pretty free of human influence."

Sharra pushed away from the wall and paced thoughtfully. "Provided there was sufficient game there to satisfy requirements, somewhere like that would be ideal. Get them out of the mainstream where they can indulge their instincts without inflicting further damage on innocents, and perhaps show some of them over time that it's not all it's cracked up to be so they could be reintegrated. Hmm."

Jenna pulled up the coordinates of several viable fringe worlds and sent them over to her. Sharra pulled up what information could be had on the worlds, looking for the best combination of wilderness and suitable prey for 'her' pack as well as the least appealing one in terms of mineral or other wealth that could one day attract unsuspecting prospectors. The idea gained a sort of comfortable acceptance as she sorted through, the situation strange but definitely one within the bounds of doable.

There was one uninhabited world that came up, largely forested and with large amounts of large mammals but no large deposits of metals or other useful minerals. It was given the name "Sweden" by the initial explorers, apparently. Sharra examined it with interest, then tossed it back over to Jenna for a second opinion.

"What do you think? Looks pretty good to me, but it'd be good to get the opinion of a native here."

Jenna gave a nod and said, "It's pretty far out there for the Primos to get there anytime soon. At least they only tend to expand very slowly."

"And with a word in the Empress' ear, maybe someone could drop in now and again and try to get them drifting back toward civilization," Sharra mused, then nodded. "I think that'll work, now to get the cubs shepherded off to their new Eden..." she smirked.

Jenna chuckled, and gave a nod, giving another distasteful glance at all the "trophies" around the room.

Sharra's eyes followed Jenna's and her muzzle wrinkled in a quiet snarl. "No more of this..." That set firmly in mind, she turned for the door and headed out into the operations center to corner one of the engineers.

One of them, working on repairing a circuit in the technobabble relay, glanced up at them as they came into the room briefly before turning back to his work quietly.

Sharra walked over toward him and stopped nearby, "Got a few questions for you."

He looked up reluctantly, nervously, and said quietly, "Yes, what do you need?"

Sharra crouched, ears tilting politely upward in an attentive stance. "First off, relax, I'm not going to bite you," she chuckled. "What's your name, tech?"

He didn't really relax much, acting all in all very submissive. "Kiley," he murmured.

Sharra nodded once. "Alright Kiley, I'm Sharra. Nice to meet you. Now, I've got a few questions to lay out that I need some hard data on. How many are in the pack, to start with, and following that are there enough ships running around to take them someplace?"

"There are around a hundred in the pack, and thirty ships. Our ships can carry four comfortably, so yes, there are enough."

"Good, good," Sharra murmured, smiling as she straightened. "I need a means to gather them in one place to talk to them. Is there a standard procedure in place for that?"

"Call them over the comms. They will come," he said, pointing vaguely toward a ramshackle piece of equipment that looked as though it would as likely electrocute her as function properly.

"Right," Sharra replied, eyeing the relic dubiously as she approached to turn it on. "Attention all members of the Blackfang Pack, this is your alpha, newly appointed by right of combat..." Oh, those words left a bitter taste on her tongue, but she continued, "There will be a meeting of all members in the docking bay in a half hour. There will be no exceptions." She closed the commlink and stepped away.

There wasn't any response, but then a hundred of them replying at once would probably be silly anyway. The thing's equipment wasn't even set up well enough to deal with simple acknowledgments. The engineers in the room, having heard over the station intercom, proceeded to finish up what they were doing to a point where it wouldn't blow up or anything and started down that way.

"Here's where we look for a bit of luck," Sharra murmured in passing Jenna and Zillah, then headed back down the way they'd come.

She could understand the instincts, she had them herself, she could even see the appeal that the freedom they could give... but preying on an innocent population, specifically sentients, was far beyond acceptable.


	11. New Hunting Grounds

The wolves were quick enough to respond and shortly the docking bay was filling up with more of the fighter ships they had seen and people coming in from habitation areas.

Sharra moved to a convenient spot in the bay and waited for the wolves to assemble, her eyes sweeping over them, quite aware that they would be curious as to the sudden change and not unlikely hostile in some cases.

They didn't seem particularly hostile or upset about the sudden change in leadership, though some of them looked oddly to the two humans with her. One of them nearby asked what her name was so they know what to call the pack now.

Sharra nodded to the questioner, then bowed to the inevitable as she replied with her given name of Silverhair. Oh, the poor, lost cubs, she shook her head silently, waiting a few minutes more until the designated time arrived.

"Your attention," she called out, amplifying her voice sufficiently to cover the space. "You're no doubt wondering why I've summoned you, and the answer is simple enough... a new hunting territory awaits you. I will allow the time needed to gather what you consider necessary for the journey, as well as what materials may be required for establishing a colony on a wilderness world, but I expect the delay to be as short as possible."

"Where are we going?"

"We're leaving Predator space?"

"We're finally getting away from those bears and cats?"

"That bastard Kestor is dead?"

"Our hero Kestor is dead?"

Some of them were quick enough to go gather up their belongings, but others remained milling around in confusion.

Sharra didn't answer the questions, recognizing that on one level it would show a weakness to explain anything to 'her' pack. Instead, she snarled at those who remained, voice amping up a few more decibels. "You heard me, now _go_!" She glared at them, daring any to say anything more on the matter.

They scattered off back to their quarters to pack their things, some of them grumbling about the matter.

Grumbling she could deal with, and would do so a little later, but for now Sharra settled for pacing the landing bay restlessly as she contemplated what she was doing. She wasn't really certain that it was the right thing, but she couldn't see any better option and it would certainly resolve one part of a potential crisis. Still... She allowed no sense of her thoughts to show in her body language other than the pacing, though.

Momentarily some of them started shuffling back in carrying armloads of clothing, supplies, and equipment.

Sharra nodded to the new arrivals. "Get loaded up and make sure you haven't forgotten anything you may want or need later. We won't be coming back here."

She thought of something at that and ceased her pacing, instead moving to crouch with casual ease near the Firefly where she'd be readily visible and available if something did come up, as well as able to observe progress.

As they were loading up, one of them came up and asked her, "Why are we leaving?"

Sharra looked up at the wolf, measuring them, then offered a brief smile. "Going somewhere that the hunting's good and don't have to worry about other predators to steal prey... or for something else to bring misfortune to the pack. Open air and free-running prey. Isn't that closer to what our instincts cry out for?"

The female wolf thought over it for a moment, and packed up her ship with extra clothes, food, and three young cubs. The oldest one paused for a moment and looked up at Sharra, cocking her head curiously.

Sharra couldn't help but smile at the open curiosity and tilted her head, ears pitched to a silent invitation, "What are you thinking, young one?" she asked.

"You're different," she observed thoughtfully.

Sharra nodded once, bridling her amusement and replying seriously. "Indeed I am. What is it that strikes you as so different though, hmm?"

She proceeded to run down a list of little things that most people wouldn't even notice. Sharra dipped her muzzle, grinning as she listened. Oh, it was a pleasure to run across a bright cub, and it gave hope that maybe this endeavor wasn't quite so doomed as she might have feared.

"You're right, of course," Sharra agreed amiably. "And you've got good eyes and instincts. I'm not from around here, among other things, and that explains why I'm a bit different from the rest of the pack."

The female cub grinned a bit, and got ushered into her mother's ship. It didn't take the pack long to pack up everything of value that wasn't nailed down, although the engineers were a bit annoyed about leaving the station that they'd worked so hard to keep from blowing itself up.

Sharra made sure that the others got the same warning as the first, remaining in good spirits after the impromptu diversion, and chivvied the pack toward readiness. The engineers, well... their skills might not be quite so necessary for a while, depending on what they'd brought with them, but there would be a day soon enough when they'd be needed again.

They did have one medium-sized freighter that they piled all the larger, mobile equipment onto. They weren't going to leave anything behind if they could help it.

Sharra could agree with that, each bit that they brought would be a link to a world that they were leaving behind so they could pursue their instincts for a time... She couldn't help but think of her own people, in a way, since they'd done much the same thing if not in quite the same way. There was something to be said for accepting the call of nature and shunning the crutches of technology, at least to a point.

She observed, intervening when needed or lending a hand where her abilities might prove of use, placing no more strain on the pack than she already had in uprooting them from the station. They would settle quickly enough, she was sure, though it wouldn't be without conflict or incident.

It didn't take more than a couple hours for them to be all packed and ready to go. "We are ready, Alpha. Direct us to our new home."

Sharra nodded solemnly. "Load up the last and take off, I will lead the way."

She turned and entered the Firefly, moving up to the cockpit and settling in and then tapping into the navcomp to set a course for Sweden. As soon as Jenna and Zillah were ready, she directed the departure and had them hold station nearby until all the ships had taken off.

"Transmitting navigational data," she commed, and did so.

Not that it was really necessary. The jump drive's wormholes were capable of transporting a small fleet if need be. Zillah opened up a wormhole to Sweden. There weren't any hyperspace buoys in Kenya due to the fact that the Empire didn't really control the system.

All the better, Sharra mused, no lost cubs along the way. She settled in to let the trip take its course, shaking her head once in amusement at her own unorthodox approach to this ordeal. This wasn't the strangest thing she'd done, by any means, but it was forever amusing the situations she found herself in.

Their ships fell in line behind her, entering the wormhole and leaving behind the empty husk of the station. It'd probably be taken over by another pack soon enough, but at least for the moment, people coming through the jump hole wouldn't be accosted immediately. The problem of the station itself wasn't one that Sharra'd forgotten by any means, but it was one that had to wait until there weren't noncombatants aboard.

"How's everything look?" she asked, eyes closed restfully for now and seeking a bit of interaction beyond that of being placed into the role of alpha.

Jenna said, "Looks like all the ships are in line. The computer counts one hundred and three lifesigns aboard the fleet total. We also appear to have a stowaway."

Sharra's eyes flickered open at that and she looked over at Jenna as she stood. "A stowaway? Where?"

"Rear cabin."

"Hmm," Sharra replied and headed off in that direction. She wasn't so much worried about it as curious, the mentality of the pack structure not one to lend itself well to that sort of behavior. Odd.

Curled up in the rear cabin she found a teenage male with a distinctive black mark on his tail. He glanced up at her as she approached, almost challengingly and clearly not afraid of her in the least.

Sharra snorted lightly and stopped just out of immediate easy reach to prop her shoulder against a bulkhead, arms folding. "And just what have we here, hmm?" She could guess, but hoped she was wrong.

He looked over at her quietly and didn't say anything.

Sharra raised a brow, a hint of steel coming to her voice. "You don't know the potential trouble you're in, cub. It'd do you a world of good to be honest and up front with me. Now, who are you and why did you stow away on my ship?"

"Katrel Shadowtail," he replied calmly, but he didn't give an answer as to why.

Sharra nodded once, acknowledging the name, then prodded, "And your reasoning for being here?"

"I don't have my own ship," he said.

"And your family?" Sharra asked.

"They're dead."

Sharra tilted her head. "And no one's looking out for you? You're a bit young yet to be completely on your own."

"I'm seventeen," he retorted.

Sharra restrained the smile that tugged at her lips, remaining serious through an act of will. "I see. Then why didn't you approach me directly, or another of the pack for that matter, rather than sneaking aboard a ship?"

He shrugged. "You said to board up and head out. It seemed the most obvious thing to do."

The logic of the young and inexperienced, Sharra chuckled silently to herself, then nodded slowly. "Alright then," she said. "You're a lucky one that this ship has plenty of resources to spare and one extra occupant isn't going to end up getting tossed out an airlock for the greater good..." she grinned a bit, softening that, "Or that I'm more reasonable than might be expected."

He smirked a bit. "What did you think I was going to do? Challenge you to a fight over my uncle's death?"

Sharra's smile was brittle as she replied quietly. "So, he was a relative of yours. For what it's worth, cub, I didn't mean to kill him even if the things he was doing and were leading the pack to do were wrong."

He shrugged a bit. "He was a right bastard, that one. I was about to head off on my own myself one I got my paws on a ship of my own."

"Perhaps, but no one should be without a family, eh?" Sharra replied, then let out a sigh. "Well that's all water under the bridge. I'll get the pack to their new home and do what I can to see you settled in before I move on. Fair enough?"

He shrugged. "Fair enough. At least I won't have to deal with him anymore. And for that I can thank you, whether intended or not."

Sharra pushed away from the wall and the arrogance of the stance, settling into a comfortable crouch to study the teen. "Why don't you tell me a bit more about it," she prodded lightly, "About your uncle, or just about the pack. I'd like to get a better feel for just what I've gotten myself in for..." She chuckled.

He nodded, and said, "Well, he was always so bloodthirsty. More than most Predators, even. Most of them were only out for food, after all, but he really enjoyed killing..."

Sharra's muzzle wrinkled in distaste as she nodded. "Too well do I know _that_ type, laying blame on instinct for their own sadistic tendencies. The trophies he kept were evidence enough for that much." Her expression cleared as she considered the rest of it. "But you say the pack as a whole weren't so thrilled with the prospect?"

He shook his head. "No, most of them were pretty sane about the entire business. Relatively speaking at any rate."

Sharra smiled. "Then maybe this will work out just fine after all. Were there any others who were hardline supporters of your uncle and his tendencies? Did he have a beta?"

He shook his head. "He couldn't stand sharing power with anyone, even his own family."

"That doesn't surprise me, with the mindset," Sharra replied, absently rocking on her feet-paws. "Hmm, and how familiar are you with the pack as a whole? Is there someone among them that would have seemed like a good alternate, or at the least a second?"

"Just about anyone. But he killed anyone who challenged him."

"Not everyone," Sharra smirked, then looks thoughtful and mused. "That could work out for the best, really. Hmm." She shook her head, a quiet smile rising as she turned her full attention back to her guest. "Anyway. Make yourself comfortable, there's a replicator if you get hungry and you can always come forward if you feel like some company."

He nodded, and said, "Alright, thanks."

Sharra rose. "Don't worry, things'll turn out alright, I've never let my family down." She nodded and headed back toward the cockpit.

Back in the cockpit, Zillah was reading up on a very dry thesis on interspecies relations.

Sharra glanced over as she returned and settled back in with a sigh. "Ah, what I wouldn't give for a straightforward and simple problem right about now. Though, come to think of it, I suppose the pack and the station back there is a bit more direct than what we came looking for."

Jenna said, "Well, it's pretty certain this bunch wasn't involved in any way with the President's assassination attempt, at least."

Sharra nodded. "A little too intricate for something they would have been involved in, though I still don't put it past there being someone out in that sector knowing something..." she smirked and joked, "But then, I'd suspect anyone not in this ship right now of being involved, and I'm not all that sure of the rest of you."

Jenna snickered softly. "Can't say I blame you overmuch. Would that I were a great telepath to be able to tell everyone's secrets, but then, I'm glad enough I'm not, as they kind of creep me out."

"I think from now on," Sharra replied, "I'll just keep an eye out for any assignment that has the reek of politics about it and find somewhere _else_ to investigate. That's the sort of thing that really creeps _me_ out. Give me an honest demon or rampaging monster from the deeps of space and time over a politician any day!"

Jenna said, "I'd be careful what I wished for." She smirked a bit. "But yeah."

Sharra chuckled and made an airy wave. "At least the usual scum of the universe you can identify and put behind bars. There's something to be said for that." She stretched, the levity fading as she turned to more immediate and practical concerns. "Or get a group of people back on a track that'll keep them from getting wiped out."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Jenna said. "Although, I wonder if that little group has sufficient genetic diversity in their collective DNA to sustain a healthy population over an extended period."

"Probably not," Sharra replied. "But with a little luck maybe they won't stay that small for long. They'll probably either work back up to where they want to head back into civilization after a while, after the taint is cleansed a bit, or word'll get out that there's a place of relative peace and quiet out there that will draw more with a similar inclination in. No clue which way it'll go."

"I'm sure they'll be fine in the short-term. With any luck at least." Jenna leaned back and glanced over at what Zillah was reading with a smirk.

"That I have no doubt of," Sharra replied. "Especially when I get the hell out of their way and take this alpha business out of the loop." She shook her head with a snort. "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for tradition and listening to your instincts, but that's such an archaic and brutish concept! Get them to choose a leader, under the pretence that they'll be my 'beta'," she smirked, "And let it go from there."

Jenna nodded in agreement. The planet they were heading to was pretty remote, so it'd be over twelve hours before they arrived there.

Sharra was content to let the time pass in thought, gnawing at the situation and the secondary one of their stowaway. There was a definite sense of guilt for the boy, though it was more a sense of pity or compassion for someone who was truly without a tie of family. She supposed she'd see how things turned out and work it from there, as was all too often the case.

So after that time passed, the wormhole opened into the Sweden system and the small fleet emerged. The planet in question was the third planet, and a temperate forested haven with some wide plains and scattered oceans.

Sharra studied the planet as they approach, looking for a likely landing spot for the ragged band of refugees, preferably a spot on the plains near a forest and easy access to a river. The first settlement would be fairly primitive, but those elements would provide a number of things that would be useful to them.

She found several adequate locations. It was a wonder the place hadn't been settled already, but there were indeed no signs of civilization around the system, not even sensor buoys.

Well maybe that would change, Sharra smiled slightly at the sensor returned of the ships following, and change for the good. She chose one of the suitable spots and directed the small fleet toward it.

Approaching the planet, sensors picked up several large herds of a buffalo-like creature roaming the plains, creatures like moose and deer in the forests, wild boars and bears, alligators down in the swamps. They came down and landed around her, and began to disembark from their ships and took a look around the place.

Sharra examined the wildlife with approval. It would serve the pack well even when they started to come back out of the pit that their former alpha had begun to dig them into. She got to her feet as they landed and made her way quickly to the hatch for a first scent of the world, a smile surfacing as she stepped out and took a long look around.

Along the river there were wide meadows and fields that could be suitable for farming as well if they were so inclined. They looked around and seem fairly pleased at their surroundings. The younger ones looked around wide-eyed. One had to wonder if they'd ever seen the outside of the space station before.

Sharra chuckled, recognizing the wide-eyed wonder that she'd seen often enough in Zillah, and headed off to mingle and talk with some of the new arrivals. There would be many things for them to do. Just setting up a basic settlement would require a great deal of work and energy, but she could at least get them started on the way.

They proceeded to unpack and get things set up. At least they'd be able to live out of their ships until they got some sort of village built. The engineers proceed to set up some sort of headquarters building, including setting up a long-range communications relay.

Sharra was pleased with the progress that was made over the next bit of time, the pack working together to get the beginnings of the settlement well underway and giving her an opportunity to get more of a feel for them. The more she saw, the more she was glad that the bastard had gotten his neck snapped, the little things like a slow easing of the downcast and hesitant eyes as she proved she was nothing like him...

It was a bittersweet thing, enjoying the companionship and the thing that was growing around them, all the time knowing that the time would come soon that she'd be leaving it behind. That day was today, she recognized as the sun rose and spread a dapple of light through the nearby forest, bathing the plains in gold. She began to circulate and mention a meeting for the midday hour.

They were perfectly happy to come at the mentioned time, a good deal more relaxed and comfortable now that they were away from that crowded little base and the oppressive Blackfang.

Sharra waited a bit as the time neared, passing a few pleasantries here and there and generally being the social creature that she was by nature, if not by profession. When the hour arrived, she looked around with a satisfied smile as she could pick out all the faces that she'd brought along on this crazed excursion, then moved to draw their eye.

"Your attention, please," she called out, feeling no need or reason to amplify it.

They gather round and go quiet, listening attentively. They'd set up a makeshift town square in the center of the village, with a firepit and a haphazard arrangement of stones, fallen logs, and plastic chairs for seating.

"I wanted to get you all together a final time before I have to head off-planet for a while," she said, looking around at them and walking slowly past the firepit. "You've done a hell of a job since we came here, and I'm very proud of all of you, you've done more here than I could have hoped for and I know you're going to continue doing so. There's a lot of room out here to grow, and learn what it means to be whole again." She paused, then continued, "I'll be checking back in whenever I can, believe me, I look forward to seeing what you're going to do and how the little ones will gaze in wonder at the ever-boundless joys in the world. You're going to need someone to keep an eye on things more closely than that, though, and _you_ are going to choose who's going to do it."

"The communications array should be finished in another week or so..." one of the engineers put in.

Sharra chuckled. "Oh, I'll be keeping in touch, but I think you all know I'm not much like Blackfang by now and don't see much threat in someone else keeping an eye on things while I'm out doing what I have to. You're good people, I think you've earned a bit of trust and responsibility. So who's crazy enough to actually accept and step up to it?"

Everyone looked around and their looks landed on one rather surprised-looking female. "What is everyone lookin' at me for?"

Sharra grinned, the general consensus clear enough and the total lack of enthusiasm all that she might have wished for. "Looks like you're stuck with it," she said, motioning the female forward. "Come on out and think about it a minute."

Apparently it so happens to be the one whom she had spoken with on the station as well. She sighed and stood up and headed over toward her.

Sharra sifted through memory for the name, having spent time deliberately encountering each of the pack at least once in the past days and storing a bit of information away on them. "A long way from the station's confines, isn't it?" she asked lightly, still amused by the woman's reaction. "Now why do you think so many eyes turned to you, hmm?"

Her name is Serwa Softpaw. She said, "Couldn't tell you. Daft they all must be," she added jovially, without malice.

"Or perhaps just wily enough to recognize the only one crazed enough to accept without a fight?" Sharra chuckled, then looked around at the pack again. "Alright, you've made your choice, and amusingly unanimous one it was. May as well let you all get back to what you were doing, or maybe some lunch considering the hour, while I have a chat with your new beta."

They meandered off in small groups, chatting contentedly. Serwa folded her arms and said, "So, you're leaving again already?"

Sharra waved over to a nearby chair. "You want the truth, or the gloss coating, Serwa? I'll give you either one, but you have to ask."

She took a seat and said, "I'd prefer the truth, if it's all the same to you."

Sharra crouched comfortably nearby and nodded. "Fair enough, and the smart answer from my point of view. To be honest, I didn't expect to find myself here at all. The foray into the Kenya system was made as a side avenue of inquiry to an ongoing investigation. The death of your former alpha was an accident, though a happy one from all I've learned since, one that would have been avoided if he'd surrendered for judgment." She tilted her head. "I work for the Empire, Serwa, and as much as I'd dearly love to stay here and lose myself in something that I think could ease the ache of my lost home... I just can't. There's too many people out there like Blackfang and worse, and that's what I dedicated myself to doing."

Serwa nodded. "Quite so, and I understand and agree completely. It's the job of warriors to fight to defend the home, but it's the job of those of less martial inclination to make it so."

"Something like that," Sharra replied quietly and looked away. "I didn't realize at first what exactly I'd stepped into, but then I began to see something that I could do a bit of good with and used what killing Blackfang meant ruthlessly to get you all here. I took advantage of the very oppression he'd wielded so that we could get to this point and the people could decide what _they_ wanted." She looked intently back to the woman. "Do you understand? All that I am here is a dream, a memory of a bad and ugly past, what you just saw when they turned to _you_ for guidance is their future. One day, probably soon, you'll be the only one they'll be looking to, and that's the way it should be."

Serwa gave a nod. "I believe so, yes. They'll still hail you as a hero even if they never see you again, but perhaps it's for the best."

Sharra smiled, shaking her head once. "Oh, I wasn't lying about keeping in touch, I'll be checking in now and then just to see how things are going and if there's any way to lend a hand, but..." She shrugged and looked down, then rose. "Take good care of them, hear? And keep an eye out for young Shadowtail for me, he could use a good person now and again."

Serwa gave a small smile, and nodded, and said, "I'll be sure to do just that, don't you worry. And good luck on your own journeys."

Sharra nodded, reached to rest a hand briefly on the woman's shoulder, then turned and walked steadily away, heading back for the ship. She'd accomplished nearly all that she could in this particular matter, all that remained was the junkheap of a station that had been left behind. So why was it that she didn't want to seal the hatch behind her? With a sigh, the hatch closed and she headed back for the cockpit.

Zillah was dozing, and Jenna was reading over recent reports.

Jenna glanced back as Sharra comes in and said, "Hey. Have you seen the latest report from Tijuana?"

"No, haven't had a chance to check through them lately," Sharra replied, smiling and gently brushing the top of Zillah's head with her fingertips before sinking heavily into a seat. "What new disaster's on the wires today?"

"Apparently, Nihilian brought in three World Eaters ships and went off to smite some Urians. They went and destroyed a Urian base on a planet near Tijuana. Then for some reason they were next spotted in the Kyber system according to a cybernet report by some smugglers out there. They aren't sure where they went after that, nobody else has seen them."

Sharra winced. "Damn, I hope that someone got the word out in warning before that all came tumbling out, otherwise there's going to be hell to pay one way or the other." Probably did, she thought to herself, then wondered aloud, "But where the hell did he go after that? This doesn't bode well."

Jenna shook her head. "No idea. The cybernet is generally pretty quick to point out something that out of the ordinary. Maybe we should pay my sister another visit."

Sharra rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. "Yeah, probably a good idea, but we need to head back to Primus first to see if we can't get them to take over that derelict station on their doorstep or, failing that, nudge it over the line so it won't be pirate bait again."

Jenna nodded, and looked over to Zillah sleeping peacefully and decided to just set the coordinates herself.

Sharra grinned and raised a staying hand, guessing the train of thought as Jenna went to set things up for the trip. She flicked the neural link active and shifted quickly through the navcomp and preflight check while she eased back comfortably, and got them airborne in short order.

Jenna shrugged and settled into her seat and murmured quietly, "She doesn't sleep much. I have to wonder just what all they did to her..."

"I can only imagine," Sharra replied quietly, deftly slipping through the systems to set them firmly on their way. "But considering some of the things the poor child's shown a lack of, I'd guess that they weren't too terribly concerned about her well-being." She wrinkled her muzzle in disgust.

"Least she doesn't have many implants yet. What the hell were they _thinking_?" Jenna sighed and shook her head.

"Something about a perfect being," Sharra growled. "All the while dismissing the realities of a little girl beneath it all. If I find the ones responsible one day, I'll be very sure that she's nowhere around..."

"I'll hold them down," Jenna offered with a dark smirk.

Sharra chuckled quietly, finding the exchange oddly warming with the knowledge that even when the world has gone mad there were few things more important than family... blood was indeed thicker than water. She relaxed, or at least tried to as the time passed but the puzzle that had come with the news of Nihilian chewing at a corner of her mind.

As it turned out, the problem already took care of itself as the Junkers dismantled the derelict station and hauled off the scraps. There were only some bits and pieces left of it hovering there now.

Sharra examined the field of debris, the very _small_ pieces of it that were all that was left of the station, and had to chuckle. "So much for that, then," she said, and set a course for Tijuana.

Even as she watched, another Junker ship came by and collected some more of the bits. And Tijuana was just another hop skip and a jump away. At least it wasn't that much out of the way to come here, since Tijuana was in the northwest and Sweden was in the south.

Sharra turned the duty back over to Zillah with a quiet smile and let the girl take them back through to Tijuana. She didn't bother with a disguise or any other change this time, the last visit putting any real worries to rest... other than the missing Nihilian, anyway.


	12. Stumbling upon Secrets

And so shortly they arrived back in Tijuana and came down to land. In the docking bay, there was a distinct change from the dark, musky drug-trafficking locale, and now it was primarily people hauling off supplies off freighters and such.

Sharra took a good look around and had to offer a nod of silent approval at what she saw changing in the base around her. Things did appear to be well on their way to turning into a respectable destination rather than a pesthole that any sane person would avoid as though their life depended on it. She shook the introspective moment off and headed to see if she couldn't find Emily or Abram.

Emily was currently in her office handling supply shipments, construction details, and the like. Abram was where she'd expect to find him, the area at least a bit more cleaned up since she was last down there. For instance, someone got around to fixing the number on his door.

Of habit and somewhat greater familiarity, Sharra checked first where she'd found Abram, pausing a moment to trace a clawtip across the fixed number with a quirked grin. She shook her head bemusedly and knocked.

He was, at the moment, sitting around enjoying a pizza which actually looked and smelled like a pizza. Apparently they got the replicators installed now. He waved her inside and grinned when he saw her. "Ah, you're back again, come in, come in!"

Sharra entered at his invitation, quirking a thumb back at the door with a grin. "I'd make a horrid pun about your number being up, but I'm afraid someone would shoot me." She chuckled and closed the door behind her, taking a look around, and smirked. "And here I am interrupting your dinner yet again. My timing is impeccable, as always."

"Would you prefer to be interrupting sex?" Abram said in amusement, heading over to pick up a slice and munch on it. "I'd offer you some, but..." He snickered.

"Mm, no, I think not," Sharra replied lightly enough, though what her response might be directed at or thoughts turned toward were shuttered behind a bland veneer of civility. "In truth, I was dropping by after hearing some rather distressing reports regarding a certain reprobate of yours..." She lifted a brow in question, assuming he'd understand.

"Ah, yes, that one," Abram said. "You need not worry about that one any longer. He and his 'friends' have returned to their home universe again."

"That's certainly good to know," Sharra replied, the faint smirk resurfacing. "Though I think there's probably a few people who'd be relieved to hear a little more detail than that, as well as know the source of your information or at least how reliable it is."

Abram nodded and said, "Understandable." He proceeded to relay what he heard about the incident from Bob, and a general assessment of where he'd heard it from.

Sharra paced thoughtfully as he relayed the information, recording it for later replay of course, and considered the various aspects thoroughly before speaking again. "And you think this 'Bob' is reliable?" she asked, "And was there any suggestion that there might be a return?"

"I tend not to argue much with deities," Abram said. "It's unhealthy."

"I can't say I can argue with that," Sharra agreed with a nod. "Disbelieve and suspect their motives, maybe, but arguments tend to be not a terribly good idea unless you have someone to back you up. Right, so..." she tilted her head, "No great likelihood of a return appearance? I know I wouldn't mind putting that name in the deep files that don't get referenced much."

"Considering what 'Bob' said, he'll probably be enjoying his new state of employ. This isn't his home galaxy anyway. I don't expect him to be back. But if he does show up again for some reason, I'll be sure to pass it along."

Sharra nodded slowly. "I think that's good enough to file it away for a while, though I'll admit to a preference for moving things like that to a permanent file of one sort or another." She shrugged, smiling crookedly. "Can't win them all. Anyway..." She gazed momentarily into the distance, thinking, then shook herself and turned for the door. "Thanks, Abram," she says quietly, Take care." She headed through and was gone with a quiet click.

Sharra returned through the warren of the base without paying any real attention to the comings and goings around her. Foremost in her mind was a cautious relief that Nihilian was gone, caution coming in the uncertainty as to whether or not the scum might return but that would be dealt with when it came up. Behind that was a wonder at what, precisely, the man had been up to that led to this turn of events, but...

She shrugged as she returned to the ship and stepped inside, setting aside the odd little mystery for now and filing it away and 'possibly closed' until it might be needed again. Unfortunately, that left a moment of silence in thought that brought a flash of anger, a hand blurring out to slam into a bulkhead in passing, but the moment was as brief as the sound that reverberates from the blow.

"Let's get out of here," she said, going into the cockpit and taking a seat, eyes narrowing in thought as she turned to a more productive line of reasoning. "Now just to figure out _where_ to go next."

Zillah takes them off out of the atmosphere again.

Jenna said, "Something about that visit to Khyber was bothering me, so I looked things up a bit more. According to the smugglers' logs, they appear to have met another ship there, Darknova-class and completely black. I was _wondering_ why World Eaters would visit a system known only for its production of hallucinogens."

"Completely black, hmm?" Sharra replied. "Anything to be found out about this odd little craft?"

"No transponder signal. No markings. Looked to have probably been modified," Jenna said, bringing up the poor video recording taken from the smugglers' base on the fourth planet.

"Not exactly the most subtle," Sharra smirked. "Effective at evading too much attention, maybe, but something like that is bound to lift an eyebrow or two if it _is_ found. Hmm." She shrugged. "According to the information Msr. Jordan passed along, Nihilian left this dimension with 'friends', I wouldn't be surprised if that little piece of work went along with him."

"Really," Jenna said, pointing to the scratchy video log indicating that the ship docked aboard one of the larger vessels. "So presuming these guys only went there to pick up whoever it was and not to do drugs or something... who do you suppose it was?"

"Unfortunately there's not much of a way to find out, provided they did go along with them," Sharra said. "I'm not inclined to go chasing them into this other universe just to satisfy curiosity and possibly stir them up enough to come back _here_. Wouldn't hurt to head out that way and see if there weren't any traces left behind, though, it's not like there's any leads on our most recent investigation to work with. Egh."

"Well, I've got coordinates from where on the third planet that ship came up from at any rate."

"As good a place to look as any." Sharra nodded, glancing over at Zillah. "Sounds like we're headed for Khyber, not exactly a reputable corner of the galaxy so keep an eye out."

Zillah gave a nod, and set coordinates to that system and brought them through.

Jenna said, "Oh, yes. A nice place. Three habitable planets, a tropical paradise, a rainforest, and a cool temperate forest, right close to the Empire too... A pity all the plant life, the soil, the animal life, is saturated with rezanite, causing hallucinations and madness to anyone trying to eat it."

"I think getting a taste of the local cuisine would be unwise," Sharra chuckled lightly, then settled into a moody silence for a bit as they made their way there and began a preliminary examination of the system.

After some hours, they emerged in the Khyber system. Sensors indicated that aside from the small smugglers' base on one planet and some sensor and communications buoys, it was uninhabited. Zillah brought them down toward the coordinates Jenna indicated as being the origin of the ship they had seen.

Sharra stored a copy of the sensor images on the black ship and turned her attention to the scans of the area they were approaching, brushing off the momentary funk.

"What have we got down there?" Sharra asked.

Sensors didn't pick up anything at all. There didn't seem to be anything there except for unbroken forest.

"Hmm," Sharra murmured. "Either a mid-flight redirection, or something well-hidden down below. Take us down for a closer look."

She sifted through the sensor data, seeking any hint of noise or static that would indicate one of the many types of jamming or concealment techniques.

Zillah brought them in closer, trying to pinpoint the exact location indicated by the coordinates. When they landed, however, instead of letting down lightly in dirt, there was a loud clanking sound. The sensors didn't indicate anything metallic underneath them, however.

Sharra's ears perked with interest at that, the lack of any forewarning by the sensors sparking an association with the cloaking field that had recently been encountered as part of the investigation. She rose and moved quickly to the hatch as they settled, opening it to take a cautious look around.

Zillah and Jenna joined her momentarily. Although outside there was a superficial layer of dirt and leaves, it wasn't hard to _feel_ something hard and smooth and metallic underneath it.

Jenna murmured, "Well, that's interesting."

"Isn't it though?" Sharra replied absently, heading out to take a look around with extreme wariness. She attuned her own implanted array of sensors to the task of seeking anything unusual or more definite than the natural appearance that they can see.

As they poke around at it, Zillah ended up falling through the floor, at a spot where there was no apparent hole visible. Catching the sudden moment of chaos that naturally ensued from an unexpected fall, Sharra dashed quickly to the area. 

"Zillah?" She tilted her muzzle this way and that, seeking the trail of the girl's familiar scent.

Jenna went over there, cautiously poking with one foot at the apparent place she had fallen. The floor seemed to slide into the ground at some point without resistance.

Zillah's voice called out from below, "I'm here. I'm okay."

Sharra glanced aside at Jenna, expression intent, then nodded sharply and snapped the staff from her belt. There were ancient images that went back further than holos of people blinded beyond the means of their primitive technology to repair guiding themselves by similar means. Tapping the heavy metal end of the thing on the ground, she methodically sought for the edges of the anomaly. It looked to be a rectangular cavity, and at one end of it, the staff stopped a few inches in. Perhaps a staircase.

"Maybe this wasn't such a wild goose chase," Sharra muttered, feeling out the side that might be a path with a foot and testing it before continuing cautiously downward.

There was indeed a staircase, and once past the false ground level, she could see what was inside. It was pitch black down here except for some faint blue lights down the corridor. Zillah was waiting for them at the bottom.

Sharra took the remaining steps, once they could be seen, in long bounds, stopping near Zillah to cast a quick, concerned look over her. "You okay?" she asked quietly, not that she expected otherwise but nature demanding the check.

Zillah nodded, glancing around the place. "Looks like someone was certainly hiding something here."

Sharra smiled a moment, then returned to business with a sharp nod and looked around. "You're right there," she said quietly, "And that distortion shield is about on par with anything I've seen elsewhere. Let's take a look around, but carefully." She proceeded cautiously down the corridor, scanning all the while.

The lights they saw further down the corridor indicate a sealed door blocking further progress. A control pad next to the door was set with several buttons.

Sharra shook her head, not about to tempt her luck by pressing random buttons, and took a multi-tool from her belt to remove the plate so the wiring behind it could be looked at for bypassing. She was in luck. As it turned out, with her equipment available, the matter of bypassing the security measures on the door was a simple one.

Never trust the simple things when someone was hiding something, Sharra chuckled inwardly, replacing the plate and moving to take a look past the door when it was opened. Inside there was a small, empty room with no apparent doors leading off to any further corridors. There was a sleeping pallet on the floor.

"Hmm," Sharra murmured, walking into the bare room and taking a thoughtful look around. "Just a bolthole, or something more? I wonder..."

She took her staff and began tapping lightly at the walls, listening intently to the sound that it makes each time. Sure enough, the left wall appeared to be hollow.

"Someone was a wee bit paranoid," Sharra muttered and proceeded to feel along the hollow are for the outlines of a door or indications of a control panel to open the area. She located a well-concealed button that slid open the wall, revealing a ladder leading further down into the ground.

Sharra shook her head, then leaned over to take a good look down the shaft, shifting through optical and sensor modes to look for energy spikes, light beams, or the less technological standby of wire. Considering what they'd seen so far, she wasn't taking any chances. Failing that, she'd climb down and see what can be found below, testing the rungs of the ladder on the way.

She reached the bottom without incident, but when she did, the ceiling automatically helpfully slid back into place. This room was larger and there was equipment lining the walls, screens and terminals and various interesting devices.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Sharra murmured with keen interest, taking a look around. As a preliminary, she checked if there was an interface for her neural link, otherwise setting to taking a slow and very cautious approach to investigating the machines. She wanted to know what they are, for the unknowns, and the data stored in the computers, not to end up with a molten slag.

She did find a type of neural interface, but it was apparently set up for natural telepaths only. She did not, however, immediately get blasted into pieces by various defense measures of whatever sort.

The interface alone provided an interesting bit of intelligence, identifying the primary user as a psionic. Sharra stored that tidbit away and continued the investigation by more standard means, resorting to the physical approach through necessity. As an afterthought, she sent a message to Zillah to have the girl join her down here. The experience would serve her well as long as she was careful.

Zillah climbed down as well momentarily, glancing around the place curiously. The terminals displayed any number of data reports, at first looking to be obscure charts and numbers, but after some analysis, it clicked just what they were talking about. Activities on different planets. With one matching the coordinates of planet Primus, she noticed that it was keeping very close track on the president's condition.

"Son of a..." Sharra began, then cut off with a quick sideward glance and chuckled. "Looks like this wasn't the dead end expected."

She began to process and download into storage as much of the data as she could get the system to release, carefully sifting through the mass of information and tagging anything else that might highlight potential trouble in the making. There was a lot of information here. Further analysis revealed coordinates to planets Toronto, Terra, Secundus, and many others. But lacking any sort of key or interpreter, it was difficult to tell just what the numbers and symbols are referring to much of the time.

Zillah said, "What is it?" She looked oddly to the screens.

"A link to what we've been looking for," Sharra replied quietly, continuing to search and absorb. "There's an interface here, but it's not designed for my kind of access. Feel like giving it a try? Carefully though, very, very carefully. Whoever set this up was sneaky and paranoid."

Zillah gave a nod, and stared off for several long moments. It took some work to figure out what it was looking for, but eventually she said, "Got it!"

"Very good!" Sharra offered in quite praise, smiling as she continued to scan and search. "See what you can find, I'm doing the same here but I'm running across a lot of symbology that I don't have any reference for decoding and it'll probably take a while to decrypt them manually."

Zillah nodded, and said quietly, "I seem to have made it think that I'm one of the ones it's supposed to allow access for. Wow, holy... There's a lot of information here... Oh my goodness..." Zillah swayed a bit under the flood of data.

"If it's allowed you access," Sharra said, "Shunt it over to me, I'll store it away. Don't strain yourself on it, that's why I had the extra storage implanted."

"It's not that so much, I mean... I mean... well, see for yourself." She sent over a stream of _very_ interesting data toward Sharra. Not only did it confirm responsibility for the attack on the President, but also pointed to a large number of other operations elsewhere.

"That's exactly what we need," Sharra murmured. "I thought this was a bit too much to just be a lone assassin, it's not surprising to see an organization having other things in the works. Dig out as much as you can, including the particulars of the distortion field they've been using if it's to be found."

She didn't find much about the field involved, but she did find some sketchy information on a man named "Xavier", primarily through his posts and reports to what was presumably a super-secret network here. She postulated that they must all be telepaths and used that as a security measure, ensuring that no non-telepath could really figure out what they were doing.

Sharra wasn't particular about the data, sampling here and there and encouraging Zillah to continue digging and feeding as much as she could find over for further analysis later, hopefully leading to identification of other individuals involved...

"I think the Empress is going to find this to be of considerable interest," she muttered grimly.

"This 'Xavier' was the one who attacked President Whitetree..." Zillah said quietly.

"At least there's a name to go with the face now," Sharra said with little humor. "Whether or not he can be brought to justice for the discord he sought to sow..."

She shook her head and returns to studying the data flow, little doubting that the miscreant hadn't joined his own kind on the journey to that other universe.

"Hm. This is weird..." Zillah murmured. "It seems like there was some connection to Talia and Anderos to this bunch at some point or another... but not anymore... there's a note here saying not to tell them anything anymore and noting to change all passwords, because 'they aren't one of us anymore'."

"Not unusual for revolutionaries to achieve their goals and accept the changes," Sharra said distantly. "Then find their former comrades continuing the same endless path of dissidence they'd set aside. I'll trust to that for now, until proven otherwise."

She sent over to Sharra a rather irritable message about Talia. "How long she'd worked to achieve our goals, how long she'd fought against the tyranny of the Empire, and now she betrays us taking up the throne instead? Don't trust her promises of change. There will be no change, no freedom for us so long as the Empire still exists."

Sharra smirked. "The hardliners versus the moderates, not surprising, and if she was already willing to compromise that explains the affinity for politics. Poor doomed soul..." She chuckled.

Judging by a number of the posts involved, though, it appeared that there had been a nontrivial connection with Chaos until recently. It was difficult to tell how deeply that wound, however. There were no real precise records kept.

"Get as much as you can," Sharra said quietly. "Then it's time to get out of here and turn this mess in to the Empress, let her analysts pick through it and advise her what to do with it."

Some of that would come bounding right back to her, she knew, but that was all part of what she'd signed on for.

Zillah nodded. After some while she finished sending over the floods of information to Sharra, and said, "I think that's it, that's all it'll give me."

"That should be more than enough to deal with the current investigation, and plenty to work on later," Sharra replied, smiling lightly. "You did a good job. Now..." she looked at the gathered machinery thoughtfully, "I wonder which of these might be projecting that distortion field, if any?" 

"I didn't find that in there," Zillah said.

However, Sharra did locate one set of controls _not_ tied into the telepathic link with a screen apparently displaying the field's status. Sharra moved to get an eye-level view of the controls, studying them silently for a minute and tracing a likely path for the wiring that would be beneath it before making any attempt to remove any panel.

"Okay," she murmured, "Take a look inside for the analysts back home, see what they think of it, and leave the thing running. No need to set off alarms that'll send the conspirators scattering to their holes."

It was only a control terminal, however, and didn't actually contain anything that kept the thing running. The generators were probably deeper in the complex, presumably closer to whatever power core ran this little base of operations.

Sharra hmmed thoughtfully, then replaced the panel without prying further. There was more to be gained just at the moment by taking care not to disturb anything which would raise alarms than a potential advance in distortion technology here. The Empress could send a team of specialists to examine it, if she wished and was willing to disregard that. Straightening, she looked around for a moment, considering.

"Let's go," she said, turning her attention to Zillah. "We've gotten more than we could have hoped for. Anything else here can wait for another day."

She headed for the ladder up, ruffling Zillah's hair with a fond grin in passing. Zillah grinned a bit, and pushed a button opening the ceiling again to allow them to climb out to where Jenna was waiting guarding the entrance.

Sharra nodded to Jenna as they emerged. "We have what we need, at least for now."

She headed for the Firefly. She was certain that someone would be sent to tear this place apart later on a more detailed basis, but the information she had stored away was more than enough to quiet things on the Primo side as well as opening new avenues of unrest to pursue. It was doubtful the Empress would be _glad_ of what had been found, but at least there was illumination on the subject now.

Zillah climbed aboard and settled in to head out and toward the jump gate into Imperial space and from there to Toronto. Sharra settled in for the return trip, an expression of disgust flickering briefly.

"Oh great, Toronto. You know what this means, don't you?" She looked from one to the other, ears cocked inquisitively, then snorted. "Time for paperwork. Blagh."

Muzzle wrinkling in distaste, she eased back and started organizing a recorded report of recent activities, with all the shiny attachments and flags that could be desired.

"Oh, it shouldn't be _too_ bad at any rate," Jenna shrugged. "At least it's more of a 'data transfer work' than 'paperwork'."

Sharra chuckled. "True enough, but organizing it all from the last time we reported in and putting in the appropriate cuts and links to relevant files and supporting information... Never was one to just dump raw data and recordings across the desk and say 'Seeya!'."

Jenna chuckled softly. "True enough."

Zillah said, "And this is something... big."

"That it is," Sharra agreed.

She began with their first trip back out to Tijuana and attached appropriate recordings to a mental assessment of the situation, cross-referencing it to the latest visit and the supporting evidence, as well as... They'd actually done quite a bit since the last report, even if some of it might be considered 'minor' it would be included and referenced accordingly.

 _I'm getting way too familiar with this sort of thing_ , she mused absently to herself as she continued to process the information silently. "I don't imagine we'll be getting time off any time soon." She chuckled faintly.

Jenna said jovially, "'Time off' is just periods in which nothing important is happening."


	13. Averting a War

It wasn't a very long trip back to Toronto, though, through the jump gates, although Zillah didn't fly in any particular rush.

"Time when you're not playing target?" Sharra asked dryly. "Perish the thought!"

The process really didn't take all that long, the recorded report ending up completed well in time for their arrival. There were certain advantages to having massive augmentation, despite what some might think of it.

It took about an hour through jump gates, traffic, and travel time to reach Toronto. Zillah brought them in to land again near the Imperial Palace.

Sharra downloaded the full report to a datapad and headed off as soon as they landed at a brisk trot. The information was just a little important, after all, and the Empress would likely be glad of additional support in defusing what the Primos might otherwise plan.

The Empress was at work in an office with several screens displaying various faces, all of them seeming to talk at once like on certain news programs. "President Whitetree, this is completely uncalled for--" Talia insisted.

Sharra observed the scene in silence for a moment, then stepped near to speak softly to the Empress's ear alone, "New information has been unearthed regarding the assassination, Empress. You may wish to see it quickly."

She dug out the datapad and scrolled to the relevant section, then laid it lightly on the desk near to hand before stepping silently back.

Talia quickly pulled up the datapad and looked over it and said, "President Whitetree, call off your men at once. _That_ is an order."

Sharra remained silently observant and as unobtrusive as possible, leaving the statecraft to the one who was stuck with it. Thankfully not _her_!

Whitetree and the Empress got into a bit of an argument over who did it and Talia being unwilling to release that information at this time.

He did not appear happy about the matter at all. "I deserve to know the truth! You're holding out on me! It's all a conspiracy against me! I should have never supported you as Empress in the first place!"

Sharra studied the man's image thoughtfully, wondering at this point whether this wasn't another facet of the reaction this network had been counting on when they planned to let the man live.

He looked as though he was ready to completely blow a fuse.

Talia sighed a bit and said, "I have nothing further to say on the matter." She flipped off the screens and said to Sharra, "Go make sure he's not doing anything stupid."

Sharra offered a brief bow, "As you wish, Empress."

She turned to leave the room with as much energy as she'd arrived with. Time didn't seem to be on their side at the moment, and she somehow doubted Talia's concerns were unfounded. She returned to the Firefly without delay and gets them set on the way to Primus.

Fifteen minutes later, they arrived over on planet Primus. The President appeared to be trying to rally the military -- to do what was a good question. He hadn't managed to do much in the short amount of time given, however.

Sharra got on the comm to arrange a meeting with the man, going through official channels at first to ease the impact but cajoling, bullying, or gesturing to her ring of office as needed to proceed quickly. If she began to get the feeling of being run in circles, she'd take more direct methods.

His staff, at least, was a good deal more accepting toward her than he might be, and they were readily accommodating and about fell over one another to assist her.

Sharra didn't step on their toes any more than she had to, recognizing their cooperation and making an approving note regarding it. She'd agree with any reasonable place and requirements for a meeting, provided the time was soon.

She was sent into his office almost immediately, where he was continuing to bite and fume and sending comms out to any number of people yelling at them.

Sharra approached the man calmly, her natural appearance a very deliberate thing to focus his attention rather than cater to his xenophobic tendencies.

"Msr. Whitetree," she offered a nod in greeting. "It would appear that there is some concern as to the resolution of the incident involving the attempt on your life. As an agent of the Empress, I would be more than happy to help clarify the matter."

He turned to her and growled, and slammed a first into the desk. "You can tell your fucking bitch she can tell me herself who did it! I demand to know! Or I _will_ find out for myself, if I have to tear this galaxy apart system by system!"

Sharra's expression remained calm and polite as she replied, "I will certainly relay your message to the Empress Talia," she places a light emphasis on the name, "She did, however, send the agent responsible for unearthing the responsible party to you, I will assist you in any way which is in the best interests of the Empire."

"I don't need to listen to you, _or_ to her! She's only the Empress at _my_ whim. One word from me can put her out of office right quick..."

"Might I suggest you refrain from such discussions, Msr. Whitetree?" Sharra asked with chill calm. "The situation is fully in control at the moment, and stirring the flames of sedition seems somewhat premature. Please allow the designated authorities to process the information that has come into their keeping and decide how best to proceed before demanding what could well lead to further difficulty."

"Oh, don't even pull that bullshit on me," he said. "Hate this crap. No, I _will_ find out the truth. I won't put up with this conspiracy by the Empress to have me assassinated because she didn't like my policies and knew she could never get rid of me through the legal proceedings."

Sharra smiled blandly. "Do you think an assassination attempt from that quarter would have failed, Msr. Whitetree? Calm yourself and think this through for a moment. This assassination was designed with a very specific purpose in mind, leaving you alive and feeding on your own tendencies so that they could be turned on any one of the directions that the so-called 'evidence' might point to. You are playing directly into their hands." She tilted her head, ears cocking. "Does it please you to be manipulated? Or can you step beyond it and put an end to the last shot in their scheme's gun?"

Whitetree raged at her furiously, storming to his feet and ending up stumbling a bit, still being weak from his injury. "I'm insulted by your insinuations," he growled, waving a finger at her.

"Have you taken a good look at the files compiled by your investigators?" Sharra asked. "There's so many different contradictory sources of evidence in there that it would be impossible to make any logical conclusion. What does that leave us with? Illogical conclusion and assumption. Each and every piece of 'evidence' presented points squarely in a direction that you would be inclined to leap to follow. What does that imply to you? None of it adds up, and that is where agents such as myself are involved to dig through and find the truth of a matter, and that has been done. You may not believe that the Empress has the best interests of the Empire as a whole at heart, but I can guarantee that her purpose is serving the people much better right now than your furious inclination to..." The last she shifted her voice to a perfect imitation of his own. "Or I _will_ find out for myself, if I have to tear this galaxy apart system by system!"

"You! She only sent you here to distract me to prevent me from finding the truth! I _will_ have you removed." He slapped something and growled, "Security to the president's office."

"I will remain here until such a time as the Empress sees fit to revoke my commission," Sharra warned him quietly. "Or until you listen to the voice of reason. There is far more going on here than you are aware of, with greater consequences than your nightmares, and you must accept that until things can be dealt with properly. Your oath to your people and their wellbeing is at stake, Msr. Whitetree. All I ask is that you wait and see that the Empress is indeed doing all that can be done."

A squad of security guards arrived promptly. "What is the problem, Mr. President?" asks one of them.

Whitetree demanded, "Sergeant Brooke, remove this pest immediately."

The sergeant looked to her and stood back and said, "I'm sorry, Mr. President. I cannot do that. Only the Empress holds authority over the Empress's Own."

Sharra smiled lightly and nodded to the sergeant. "It's good to see that there are those who haven't forgotten their oaths. There is no danger from me, sergeant, I give my word." She turns back to the President, eyes narrowing slightly, "You, however, _are_ threatening the peace and stability of the Empire with your foolish stubbornness and arrogant pride. I ask you once again to reconsider your ill-thought tirades and accept th gesture that the Empress has made in sending me here."

He looked to the sergeant and said, "Traitors. Traitors. You're all traitors." He turned away from them muttering off on another tirade and stormed out onto the balcony at the far end of the office.

Sharra sighed softly and offered a 'what can you do?' shrug to the sergeant, then folded her arms and walked silently in the wake of the president. He had to see reason, one way or the other, even if the idea of pushing him off the balcony _was_ sounding awfully attractive at the moment.

"That was a good example of bad morale-building, Msr. Whitetree," she said quietly, propping herself nearby. "There is indeed a conspiracy afoot," she continued, equally quietly, tracing a foot-claw lightly on the floor. "But it goes far beyond the attempt on your life, and that's what we're working to prevent. It's got nothing to do with hiding things from you, or conspiring against you, it's just plain and simple secrecy that has to be kept until all of it can be dealt with."

He gripped the railing tightly and sighed, shaking his head. "The Empress doesn't trust me... my own men won't listen to me... I'm not cut out for this job."

"I've seen what's involved here," Sharra replied quietly. "I _brought_ it to her, and I can tell you right now that there's no way that _anyone_ can be blindly trusted until certain precautions are taken. I can't even tell you why," Sharra added with a crooked smile, "That's how scary this thing is, and I've seen a lot as a cop the past six hundred years. Please, just give it a little time."

He finally calmed down looking out over the sprawling cities of Primus. "Madness. Madness it is. I can't do this. Can't do this anymore." He shook his head, muttering incoherently.

Sharra walked up to stand next to him, looking out over the city. "I can understand the anger and fear, Msr. Whitetree," she said, "It's never easy to look death right in the eye and keep a grip on yourself. You're in a tough position, one that a lot of people couldn't handle, and I don't envy you that. Is it still worth it to you, though? Do you see yourself doing more good than bad with it?"

"Perhaps," he murmured quietly. "I don't know. Hate to be so helpless..."

Sharra snorted lightly. "Helpless? People like me go scurrying all over the galaxy to find out what's going on at the word of people like you. I wouldn't exactly call that helpless. The real tricky part of that, though, is figuring out who to send where and the right reasons for doing it. What good is all the power in the universe if you can't do a little bit of good for the people you watch out for?"

"What's good? What's all they're saying about that the Primo religion is a false religion and our gods are dead, and perhaps we should have never followed them in the first place? Blasphemy, they'd say, but what can one do?"

"Good has nothing to do with god," Sharra replied quietly. "More evil has been done in the name of one god or another throughout history than for any other reason known to any race. No, good is what you make of it, what your gut and soul tells you it is... what brings a smile to a child's face, or surprises a man into stuttering gratitude without any thought of repayment. Blasphemy is thinking otherwise."

"A year ago I would have shot _myself_ to even think it, but now I wonder if the Primo religion was ever really that 'good'."

Sharra looked down at him with a flicker of surprise, then turned her gaze thoughtfully outward again. "Maybe it was needed at the time," she replied, "Maybe it still is, for people who find peace in it, but your question makes me wonder if maybe there might be some things that could be changed about it. Religion's all about the people, so when they change it should change with them, shouldn't it?"

He looked at her in puzzlement and said, "But, isn't religion about the gods? What's a religion without any gods? And our gods are dead, so no more Primos..."

"Religion is about faith and belief," Sharra replied quietly. "Whether there's a god out there or not to listen to a prayer doesn't really matter as long as the people think there is, and take heart from it. Besides," she shrugged, "It's not as if there isn't still a god out there in this galaxy, I ran across him and he seems a decent enough sort. Probably even _does_ listen now and again."

"But then any religion would have to be turned to worship of _that_ god and following _his_ tenets, whatever they might be," he said.

"I don't know, it seemed to me that this Sheniro was familiar and known well enough around here," Sharra replied, "Would it really matter if the focus shifted a little as long as the general intention toward good remained?"

"Sheniro?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "The God of Joy and Happiness?"

"I think he's a little more than that now, from what I heard, but yes," Sharra nodded. "There's a temple being erected in his name in one of the systems I've visited recently." She didn't mention the fact that she was rather suspicious of their motives, to begin with.

He sighed quietly and said, "Perhaps..." He looked down to the city pensively.

"Think about it," Sharra said quietly, a faint grin quirking. "Stranger things have happened, haven't they? Imagine, the president of the Primos standing on his balcony and talking to the likes of _me_."

"You're the Empress's Own," he replied flatly, shrugging.

"Indeed," Sharra nodded once, turning back to look over the city. "That just makes me another person with a badge and a title, though, and when it comes down to it all any of us really want to do is live, love, and be free. Some of us have to sacrifice something so that the rest of the people can do that, whether it's peace of mind and safety when you took your oath or a little more when I gave mine."

He went quiet and shambled back into the office, going to punch some buttons and tell some people to stand down. Sharra followed him back into the office, remaining silent for a few minutes and leaving him to the comfortable routine of button-pushing and gathering his thoughts. At least the urge to trigger a fresh presidential election had passed.

After dismissing security and ordering the military to stand down, he sat down heavily and put his face in his hands. "I should go back to bed. Yes. The doctor said I would need to take it easy for a while, yes..."

Sharra nodded, feeling some small bit of compassion for the man, it _had_ been a rough time for him even if his own attitudes had been the reason for his being the target. "That probably would be a good idea," she agreed, "Is there anything I can do for you before I go? A message you would have me relay securely to the Empress?"

"Tell her she doesn't need to send anyone to tranquilize me," he mumbled with a bit of a smirk.

"I'm sure she'll be relieved to hear that," Sharra replied with a faint grin, then it faded as she continued quietly. "Go and rest, Msr. Whitetree, and peacefully in the knowledge that you've served your people well this day."

She offered a polite bow, then headed for the door. He staggered off to his quarters quietly as she went. Sharra maintained a blank facade as she departed, showing no sign of her inner dialog about politics, politicians, and the best uses for them both. It was a relief to return to the Firefly, only then a deep sigh escaping.

"How did it go?" asked Zillah when she returned.

"As well as could be hoped for." Sharra chuckled softly and dropped heavily into a seat. "The Empress should be pleased that there won't be a war starting today, at least. Let's get back and try reporting in again, hopefully without another crisis erupting in the meanwhile."

Zillah nodded and took them off and heads back to Toronto again. Sharra decided on the short flight, that she'd refrain from delivering the first message President Whitetree would have wished delivered to Talia, but made note of the final one he'd requested. That was probably as close to an admission of overreaction as the man was capable of right now, and it was a much better sign than his earlier tempest.

She waited for their return to Toronto, preparing yet again to trudge out and report back to the palace. At least it isn't a very _long_ walk to the palace, at any rate, the landing pad having been strategically placed with such things in mind. Zillah put them down again near the palace.

Sharra took it in good humor, overall, even if dealing with the president had strained her patience nearly to its breaking point there had been a little light at the end of the tunnel... hopefully not a train. She smirked at the thought and headed for the palace to find an audience with the Empress.

The Empress was currently sitting in her office going over the data she had been given and making some calls. Sharra looked around as she entered, appreciating that it was at least a bit quieter now than the last time she'd come. She moved to stand before Talia's desk, calling brief attention with a softly respectful "Empress," then settled in to wait until needed.

Talia nodded to her, finished up another message, shut off the comm, and turned over to her. "Excellent work on finding who has been responsible for so much trouble around here lately."

"I can't claim much credit for that," Sharra replied, "Seeing as it was Jenna's research and blind luck that led to the data found, but I'll accept luck where it's found. On the other hand, it would appear that Msr. Whitetree is willing to be somewhat more amenable for now, and asked that I pass along the message that you needn't send anyone to tranquilize him."

Talia chuckled softly and said, "I'm glad he calmed down before he decided to stage a rebellion, commit treason, or invade Sydney." She leaned back with a sigh and said, "Ever since they cut me off their network, I'd feared this group would cause more trouble, and I tried to stop up what avenues I could when I knew about them, but they were quick to cover their tracks..."

"It would appear that they're still quite active," Sharra agreed, "though the information gathered might provide a rare opportunity to gut their organization if it's acted upon swiftly."

Talia nodded in agreement. "I've been placing calls all over to crack down on this before they realize their security has been compromised."

"Is there anything you wish me to deal with, or relay to Jenna?" Sharra asked.

"The problem here is, these are telepaths we're talking about. Most of them aren't that strong, but some of them are strong enough to be... problematic." Talia handed her a datapad with a list of names and locations. "Those five need to be arrested, or if necessary killed. They're very dangerous, so take support if you need it."

Sharra examined the list, then looks back to Talia. "As you wish, of course, though I think that this will be something I'll do alone."

She offered a quick bow, then heads for the door, examining the locations again and plotting a rough route to deal with them. The locations given were on planets Hamilton, Primus, Siberia, Paris, and Tibet. Coordinates of where they were believed to be on those planets were included along with images and basic descriptions.

Sharra had a basic itinerary outlined on the basis of transit times and making the trips as quick as possible before word could get out in warning by the time she got back to the ship, though she'd double-check it with the navcomp and see if it had a different opinion.

It shouldn't take too long to work through the jump gate network to those planets linked up on it, especially Hamilton as traffic was awfully light out there. Sharra wasn't working wholly alone at the moment, however, and she took the matter of a solo assignment up with her companions.

"Something new coming up from the data we brought back," she told them, "But it's going to mean dealing with rogue telepaths. I'm fairly sure I can handle this alone, and would be willing to leave the outriders here for the two of you if you wanted to stay here for a little while..."

She didn't really like the idea of going off alone, not when they'd shown they worked well together, but the nature of the assignment made her known immunities an asset that couldn't be ignored.

"That sounds trouble," Jenna commented. "She must have pointed at them for fearing the regulars would end up being mind-controlled or something..."

"Most likely," Sharra agreed. "Psionicists can cause a great deal of harm if they're intent on it and left unchecked, so something has to be done and quickly."

"We'll stay here. I won't trust my own mediocre ability on someone even the Empress deems dangerous. Good luck."

Sharra smiled. "Thanks, I have a feeling I'm going to need it." She looked over to Zillah and the smile softened. "And you stay out of trouble till I get back, hear?"

Zillah smiled and nodded to her. She gave her a hug and said, "Good luck."

Sharra held the girl for a moment, then turned back to the task at hand with a quiet determination. It didn't take long to separate the two outriders from the Firefly, the central section with its added room something she was going to need for the prisoners-to-be. Without any further delay or preparation, she set course for the first of the planets on her list.


	14. Making Arrests

The traffic wasn't too heavy at the moment and it should take around five minutes to get there. From palace to work in under a half hour, not a bad commute. Sharra allowed a moment of levity as she headed in for the planet and reviewed the data on the target.

Paris was a very French planet, and was at least less heavily populated than most Primo worlds, although covered by vast cities it at least had _some_ sections devoted to parks and wilderness. The culprit was noted to have been in the New Seine district in the northwestern hemisphere.

Sharra contacted the nearest port to that sector and requested permission to land. It shouldn't be too difficult to locate her quarry, the sort who usually engaged in activities of this nature rarely belonging to the faceless, indigent masses.

She was given permission readily enough and directed to a landing area nearby. This was an upscale, snooty part of town, with expensive-looking formal clubs and a large golf course nearby.

Sharra checked for the presence of a planetary computer net to connect to, the information that could be acquired through simple public records could easily identify her target in an area like this one. Titles and deeds, registrations of all sorts, all these were commonplace and open records that would have all that she needed to start out. Matches to the name came up negative, nor to the face either. He must be covering his tracks better than that.

"So much for the logical route," Sharra muttered and set out to do things the hard way, with miles of footwork. Considering the area, she'd start out with a few quick visits to area social clubs.

She hardly stepped out of her ship before she spotted someone matching that description strolling toward one of the ships. He didn't look like he thought he was at all suspected for anything. Sharra compared the image with the reality, chuckled inwardly, and headed in that direction.

"Excuse me, sir," she said as she approached, "Would you happen to know a good restaurant in the area? I'm sick of replicated yuck."

He replied in a heavy, obviously fake French accent. "Ah, I find the fare at Le Bel Esprit to be most exquisite..."

"Thank you very much," Sharra replied with a warm smile, dipping into her pocket with two fingers and lifting her ring out to show him. "And do you happen to recognize this?" She'd give him a moment to understand and come to grips with it, then make a decision. There was really nowhere for him to run.

He looked, at best, disappointed, and dropped the fake accent. "You are of the Empress's Own?"

"Indeed," Sharra nodded, tilting her head back toward her ship. "Would you care to accompany me quietly? It would be a lot less damaging for you that way, and might earn you a little clemency from the Empress."

After noting quietly that he wasn't going to manage to mind-control her, he sighed a bit and said, "Oh, very well. I'm just an old man, nobody important, I'm sure this will all be worked out, yes..."

Sharra reached out to take his arm and led him back toward the ship, already assuming he would have tried the psionic angle by this point.

"I'm afraid I'll have to put you under," she said with a tinge of regret. "Can't take the chance since I'm going to be moving around for a bit yet. I'll make it as quick as possible, though."

For as frail as he looked, he was probably a powerful telepath. But fortunately there was also nobody in immediate range to control to shoot at her or anything either. He shuffled along with her. Sharra sealed the ship up after they enter and led him to the rear cabin, gesturing for him toward the bed.

"Have a seat," she said. "Afraid you'll end up with a bit of stunner hangover later, but it's better than the alternative."

She unlimbered the short rifle and flickered through to the appropriate setting. He sat down and looked at her very nervously and looked half-panicked at the weapon.

Sharra smiled crookedly, making a deliberate display of raising the weapon to hold his attention, then flicked one of the come-along spheres from her belt to land in his lap. It acted as it has before, surging through and short-circuiting the body's systems as force bands whipped out to encircle the target.

She checked through the neural link on his vitals and set the thing to keep him under. It'd hold him, certainly. And he might look like a frail old man but he was hardly about to have a heart attack on the spot or anything.

Sharra nodded in satisfaction at the readouts, then made sure the prisoner was laid out as comfortably as possible before heading back to the cockpit. It was strange, perhaps, but she did have a certain code of ethics even when it came to the scum, otherwise what separated them? Humming a horribly off-key tune to herself, she requested takeoff clearance and set out for Primus next.

A couple quick hops should see her return there without incident. The person in question in this case was someone in the capital building itself and actually high-ranking in power, being the senator of Primus's southwest district.

Sharra looked at that one with a raised brow and ears tilted at odd angles, wondering how the hell someone like that slipped... she blinked and shook herself, then shrugged, hers was not to question why.

She made use of her title to gain clearance for a nearby landing, and would head out to find the individual in question. They were enough used to her comings and goings around here and didn't question when she returned. The senator's office was located on the fifth floor.

Sharra headed up for the fifth floor, considering the best way to approach this. It would be politically correct to alert the local authorities as to her intent, but word might slip to the person in question that way... so much for being politically correct, she mused wryly as the lift opened and she walked out onto the floor.

It wasn't a wonder that she didn't want to tell Whitetree what was really up... The man was currently in his office, oblivious as to what was transpiring and reading over reports. Whitetree would either have thought it a crass, blatant lie, or have had the man dragged off to the executioner, no doubt, thereby ruining any chance of interrogation. Sharra walked in and stood across the desk from the suspect, clearing her throat lightly for attention.

He glanced up and raised an eyebrow and said, "Ah, hello, how can I help you?"

Sharra offered a thin smile. "As an agent of the Empress, I'm here to inform you that your presence is required immediately. Would you please accompany me?"

"Of course, of course," he said, putting away his datapads and standing up. "Did she inform you what it was about?"

"I'm sorry, she didn't," Sharra replied, gesturing to the door. "She merely stated the urgent nature of the affair and that I was to bring you immediately. I'm sure it'll be explained on arrival."

He nodded and said, "Of course." He headed toward the door. He really didn't seem like he has any idea what's going to await him.

Sharra followed a politely correct step behind him, only stepping forward to deal with the mundane things like summoning and controlling the lifts or any doors along the way, ever the proper attendant. It wasn't until they get to the ship that she dipped a hand to her belt and palms one of the come-alongs, then pressed it lightly to the small of the Honorable's back to activate it. Once again, no real problems there, he never saw it coming.

Sharra chuckled softly and catches the man before he could fall, then carried him back for storage. Two down. Too easily. She knew it wouldn't last, but didn't let it bother her just yet as she headed back to the cockpit and arranged for takeoff clearance. Siberia next...

Some more hops away, the long-held rebel base on the frozen wasteland of Siberia, claimed by the rebellion because nobody else actually wanted the place. Sharra didn't find the planet as displeasing as some others might, there was something to be said about the solitude and beauty of a frozen world... provided you had the modifications to deal with it. She set aside the aesthetic considerations and heads for the base, the insular nature of it promising to be a little more difficult in locating her prey without spooking it.

With the recent peace with the Empire, at least they weren't too concerned about the Empress's Own visiting. They remembered Empress Alisa, even if only by reputation, about how she had come here herself to make peace with the pirates and find assistance against the one trying to kill her.

Sharra was glad she didn't arrive to a hail of defense net fire, at least, and set about looking for a terminal to interface with the base's computer. She'd check there first to see if anyone matched what she'd come looking for, and barring that... she grinned a bit, there was no place like a bar on a rebel base to get info.

She didn't find anything particularly useful in the base computer. Apparently, unsurprisingly, they didn't keep close record of who came and went here. Sharra chuckled, not particularly surprised, and went in search of a local watering hole. A few credits in the right hands would get the information she needed, or at least put her on the track of the current target.

She located the local bar easily enough, although the swill they were consuming there didn't look very drinkable, at least it was replicated swill. Sharra thought through a number of one-liners having to do with similar dives as she entered and took a look around. There was one in every spaceport, as long as there weren't 'quality controls' anyway... they tended to be a good source of information. She scanned the patrons carefully for any sign of her particular interest, and if not found walked casually over to the bar. He didn't appear to be here, no.

"What can I get you?" the barkeep said, a bald guy with several missing teeth.

Sharra nodded in greeting. "Nothing to drink, thanks," she said, "But that doesn't mean I'm not looking to pay a bit of custom if you can help me out. I'm looking for someone."

"Are you," he said. "Lots of people around here like to be here to not be found. It'll cost you."

"Know how that goes, friend, been there myself," Sharra replied. "Why don't I show you and you tell me the rate, all nice and confidential?" She projected the image she had of the current target.

He took a casual look over the image and said, "For five hundred I'll tell you where he is, and for another five hundred I won't tell him you're looking for him the minute you leave."

Sharra grinned. "Fair enough, and as long as he hasn't skipped town between here and there I won't come back and crack your skull." She transferred the full thousand to him and waited for the information.

He grinned a bit and said, "Keeps to himself that one. You can find him in a little room off the secondary storage bay, behind a pile of crates. Thinks himself hidden there, but you can't hide from me." He grinned and casually went back to wiping the table.

Sharra offered a grin and a wink, then turned to head off to find the storage bay. There was something to be said about low-life hangouts... they were infinitely predictable.

Sure enough, she found a doorway concealed behind some crates right where the barkeep said it would be. Sharra didn't bother knocking or trying the polite approach this time, though she did scan the door and its immediate environs for any signs of a security system or a more primitive alarm.

There was a buzzer on the door that would make a loud noise inside if someone tried to open it, but it wasn't too hard to disable. Sharra took the time to do so, not wanting to take the chance that her quarry might have a backdoor to escape through in event of emergency... she knew she would. That done, she listened carefully at the door, then went to enter as quietly as possible.

She found a young man tucked into this cupboard, dozing lightly in a corner and twitching occasionally, holding a blaster close to his chest like a paranoid sob. Sharra tried to approach him silently, intending to draw close enough to reach out and grab the blaster so it didn't go off at the same time that she dropped a come-along on the unsuspecting sod.

He failed to wake up as she approached and she managed it without him ever realizing anyone was there. Sharra tsked quietly as she checked the vital readouts, then nodded in satisfaction as she pulled the blaster away and set it aside. She dragged him out and easily lifted him to her left shoulder, leaving her right hand free out of habit should anything unexpected arise on the way back to the ship. After a brief look around for anything of interest, she headed back to the landing bay.

Like any good rebel base, they paid no attention whatsoever to people dragging along unconscious bodies. Fringe bases, had to love them. Sharra stored her most recent acquisition, then heads out once more for the long series of hops that would bring her to Hamilton. She still had the feeling things were too easy, but she doesn't say anything, knowing that to do so would only beg the intervention of Murphy and his Imp. Out of basic caution, she sends a message to Zillah that she's finished here and the path she's taking onward.

It was a rather longer trip up to Hamilton, but quickest to take the east route since it was less widely used so less traffic, even though it would bring her through Gaytopia. Which was probably _why_ it was less widely traveled.

Sharra hadn't failed to notice the route, and after checking on the strange name just had to smirk and shake her head a bit. To each their own, though, and it didn't bother her in the least unlike the Primos who probably went foaming at the mouth over it. With any luck the fourth would be no more greater trouble, and she considered rejoining her comrades for the longer trek out to Tibet.

Not only would it mean she could drop her cargo to that point, but the Jordans would have an opportunity to pay a social call on Felicia while they were out there... The truth of it, though, was that she was social by nature and had gotten comfortable having the two around even if she wouldn't necessarily say so or admit it to herself.

When she reached Hamilton, the place immediately appeared deserted and looked as though it had been so for some time, although it appeared that not too long ago someone repaired and did some upgrades on the jump gate and the base on it. Sensors did pick up a ship docked at the gate station and nine lifesigns aboard the old, barely functional base.

Sharra looked at the desolation and didn't hold out much hope for her current target still remaining there, unless the information was far more recent than she suspected it might be. She shrugged it aside philosophically, if they weren't there then there was little she could do about it. She headed for the base and waited for a challenge as she approached, if there wasn't one forthcoming she'd simply land and go hunting.

Either their sensors weren't working, nobody was paying attention, or they didn't seriously think anyone would come here, but nobody challenged her and she could dock without incident.

Sharra snagged the sensor data on the base and then went in search of the lifesigns that had registered on the scans. She wasn't going in with clearly hostile intent, but she _was_ being a bit more cautious this time around, a small group like this was less likely to readily surrender one of its members.

They didn't detect her as she approached and didn't even notice she was there until she came into the room they were in, their hurried speaking to one another suddenly going quiet as they noticed her presence. Sharra scanned those present for the one she was looking for even as she stepped out into the open.

"Hi folks," she said, "I was passing through the system and noticed someone out this way, you having any problems?"

"No, none whatsoever," one of them replied. Her face matched the image of the person she was sent to find.

Sharra looked at the woman, then smiled. "Good, I was hoping that I wasn't about to cause add anything more than I needed to. Can I talk with you a moment in private?"

She looked at Sharra suspiciously and said, "No, I think not. Put down your weapons."

Sharra shook her head, still smiling. "Afraid I have to echo your sentiments and say I think not. I really don't want to cause trouble for anyone else here, but I'm afraid I can't leave a wanted telepath running free."

She swept her left hand down, pushing the long coat back behind the snap-away holster of the short rifle and then waited. The woman smirked a bit and didn't move an inch, but her companions brought out their own weapons to point to Sharra.

The smile broadened fractionally to a grin, the situation more in line with what Sharra had been expecting in the first place. That was the only warning she gave, though, as the shimmering field of force sprang to life at her left wrist and moves to interpose and block incoming fire even as she snapped the rifle up in a blur to fire. Her shooting was as admirable as one could hope for, managing to deflect their incoming attacks and down the attackers quickly.

Sharra looked around as the last shot faded to ringing silence, ears cocking for any further signs. Finding nothing, she re-holstered the rifle and deactivates the shield, then walked over to take a look down at the band.

"Now the question is," she murmured, "Would the Empress be interested in the rest of the merry band?"

She shrugged and set about the process of collecting them all and taking them for storage. If nothing else, the Empire could sort out any with piratical tendencies or true conspirators.

The other eight were all out cold, but when she got to her main target, she quickly realized that the woman had had an energy-dispersal net of some sort on her, and that she was only faking being out. With a quick thrust of her hand, she felt telekinetic force against her. Sharra staggered back at the force of the attack, ears laying flat as she turned a narrow gaze on the woman and offered a feral smile.

"You're all alone now," Sharra said, retrieving her staff and snapping it out. "Why don't you give it up and come along to say hello to the Empress? Your Xavier's abandoned you, you know."

"You've found us out, then," she said in a low voice. "Did Xavier betray us then? Did Talia betray us further? No matter. You can never stop us. We are but a small sacrifice, but others will come to take our place."

Sharra smoothed her expression and straightens, throwing her hands wide. "Why are you doing this? What good is it really going to do anyone when there's already a government that's listening to you unlike the last one? Damn it, girl, don't throw your life away for some misbegotten and misdirected cause!"

The woman came to her feet slowly, and said, "The cost of freedom is never too high. We have been fighting the Empire since long before the Rebellion, since long before Terra was inducted into the Empire when the El'dari came and took over. You didn't know that, I bet. That our movement was started by El'dari. Hmm?"

Sharra sighed and shook her head. "What's in a name? Answer me that. I don't give a damn about the past at this point, I care about what's happening right here and now, and what it'll mean for the future. The Empire as it was when this mess started is _gone_ and there's a good woman doing all she can for the people now. What do you want? A rule of telepaths and psuonics? No hyperbole or rhetoric, what is it that you want?"

"Freedom. An end to Empires. An end to rule by some random person, or rule by simple majority. An end to discrimination against people because they're another species, or because they have different abilities, or because they're attracted to a different sort of person than usual."

Sharra smiled sadly. "You want the same thing people have been looking for over thousands and thousands of years, and you know what? Not a one of them has ever found it. That doesn't mean that some don't come close, or that things can't be changed, but do you really think that what this organization stands for will bring anything but death and ruin to untold _millions_ of people? Do you think you could sleep at night with that?"

"Yes. I could. And I will do whatever is necessary. You may stop me today, but you will not stop us all. You cut off one head of the hydra, but two more will grow in its place. We are eternal and unstoppable."

"I've seen humans hating humans," Sharra said quietly, beginning to circle with light steps. "My own kind at war with each other, countless races hating and seeking the subjugation of each other. That's the one truly eternal thing, as long as there's two sentient beings still living, they'll find some reason to hate each other. You're looking for a dream, girl, and I can empathize... Too many have died and been killed over that kind of dream, though, the kind of dream that shows no flexibility or tolerance, no better than the base nature that they claim to want to stamp out. People can be better than that, but that won't happen while they're descending to the lowest possible methods to achieve their lofty ideals."

The woman looked to the floor for a moment and turned away silently, staring off at nothing in particular. Sharra silently ceased her movement and lowered her stave, leaning on it as she looked at the woman and her reaction.

"Talk to me," Sharra said quietly. "That's where the real power is, the expression of the true freedom that resides in the mind. That's the one common ground that the various races can meet, if they can be bothered to. So... I'm listening."

The woman shook her head slowly and said, "It's come too far for that, I think. You know too much but I don't even know how much you know. Silence may serve best, perhaps, but in the end Talia would learn the truth, and strong as I am I am not strong enough to resist her will."

"It's never too late," Sharra denied. "Not until one side or the other refuses the possibility that exists. I can't promise you anything, I'm a servant of the law because I _believe_ in it and the processes that move it along. No, things aren't perfect, but I'll be damned if I won't hope and work toward improving them rather than shutting my mind against the dream of what _could_ be. Don't be a victim of fanaticism, that's no way to find a better tomorrow."

The woman sighed and murmured, "Fine. I surrender. But it will not change anything," she looked down and shook her head slowly.

Sharra returned the staff multi to her belt and approached the woman quietly. "Never give in to despair. There's always hope even when things look their worst." She reached out to touch the woman's shoulder. "Come on, I'll spare you any more of my babbling unless you want to talk. That's up to you, but I hope you'll take advantage of the offer."

She went along quietly and murmured, "I thought it was too much. The attack on President Whitetree. We never acted that blatantly before. Never like that. Always quiet, in the shadows, pushing things one way or another... but not like that."

"Almost started a war over it," Sharra replied softly. "You'll never know how close it came to a planet full of decent, innocent people getting wiped from the face of the universe. I'm only glad that I somehow managed to calm the waters enough to avoid it."

Sharra led the way back to the ship, allowing the woman her freedom for now and having no plan of subjecting her to unconsciousness for the return trip.


	15. Prisoner Transfer

Four down, with less trouble than might have been expected, though Sharra turned the fourth target around in her mind as she escorted the woman back to the Firefly. The rational thing to do would be to render her unconscious for transit and turn her over with the rest of the prisoners, but there were times when logic couldn't be allowed free rein, as Abram could surely attest.

"Go up and take a seat," Sharra said, pointing up toward the cockpit. "May as well make yourself comfortable."

Linda headed up and took a seat, looking fairly depressed, guilty, one might even say regretful about the entire business.

Sharra left her guest for a few minutes to check on her 'cargo' and make sure everything was ready for the return. Satisfied, she headed back to the cockpit and took a seat, flickering through the takeoff list silently as she lounged back in the chair. She knew the trip back wouldn't be all that long, but it would give the opportunity to talk a bit if she could get the other woman to do so...

A message headed out to Jenna and Zillah, asking them to meet her at the landing field a few hours from the time that the navcomp estimated the ship would arrive. Transport for the current crop of prisoners could be arranged then, whether that was three telepaths or four would be determined at that point.

Linda sat quietly. She murmured, "Xavier might have known a lot, but he didn't know everything. I don't think any one person knows everything that's going on..."

Sharra glanced aside as the ship edged out of the bay and began the return trip to Toronto. "Xavier had a great deal of information available," she said, "Which came into my hands following his departure from this dimension. Considering the company he seemed to be keeping, I only hope that none of them return."

She'd scanned through what was known about the recent invasion and the forces involved, and was glad they were gone.

Linda seemed a bit surprised. "Xavier... left? He didn't betray us?"

Sharra smiled grimly, her eyes slipping shut as she controlled the ship through the link. "He left alright," she replied, "But I wouldn't dismiss the betrayal just yet, unless you count working with the same sort of people who devastated this galaxy all-too-recently as decent, upstanding citizens."

Linda murmured quietly, "Some of us... had connections to them."

"And what do you think about that?" Sharra asked quietly. "Do the ends really justify the means?"

"Sometimes."

Sharra's eyes flicked open and turned to gaze at the woman contemplatively. "Do they really? When it comes down to it, is any cause worth destroying the only things worth having? Honor, integrity, respect, love, friendship, freedom... all of these are casualties when you start looking at that kind of campaign. So what're you really fighting for? Your own gain, or a greater good?"

"Not my own. Never my own. We all make our own sacrifices for the cause. We all know the consequences when we sign up."

Sharra nodded sagely. "Ah, I see, and there's surely no one in the organization who's less than idealistic. Doubtless everyone is as dedicated to the purity of purpose and nobility of the cause... But I have to wonder, if that's the truth, just where the ideas get planted that doing anything is okay as long as the goal is met. That kind of thinking tends to come from someone who has their own agenda and advantage in mind."

"The fact that we're telepaths would generally preclude that."

Sharra smirked and shook her head. "Come on, you know better than that as well as I do, and I'm not even a psionic. There are ways for one telepath to avoid revealing whatever they want to hide if they're powerful and skilled enough, just look at your own comment about not being able to resist the Empress' will."

"I suppose," she said quietly. "So you must have known where to find us from Xavier's records..."

"That was a part of what was found," Sharra admitted, "Though finding them was no simple task."

"I would certainly hope not," she said with a smirk. She leaned back and sighed, staring at the ceiling.

Sharra didn't expand any further on that, instead going back to something that bothered her even if she couldn't find quite the right angle on it. "You told me about your cause, and where it started," she said, "Back when the last Emperor had taken over from the El'dari and was making life hell for a lot of people. That makes sense, I can understand and approve of that. What doesn't make sense to me," she continued, brow furrowing. "Is why this thing kept going when the old Empire was put down and turned around by Empress Talia. What exactly _is_ it that you find so repugnant about the current regime? I've seen worse, _much_ worse, and a very, very few that were better, something that time will bring around if she's given the chance."

Linda shook her head. "No. It started before the humans ever were made part of the Karzan Empire. Over a thousand years ago. Among the El'dari. Talia was the first among the humans to join, when the El'dari first arrived on Terra, back in the early twenty-first century."

Sharra tilted her head, displaying clear interest. "And what was the reasoning behind it then?"

"It was a protest against imperialism. Forced conquest and assimilation of other planets. There were always those who didn't agree with it in principle."

Sharra nodded. "A common enough philosophy concerning expansionism, but there's clearly more to it than that here."

"We sought to overthrow the Empire from within. Many of us bringing up high positions of authority. But... Xavier disagreed with Talia becoming the Empress. He said that if she were really still working toward our aims, she would have dissolved the Empire the moment she had the authority."

Sharra sighed and shook her head. "And what if she had? Suddenly you're looking at anarchy on a wide scale as each planet is suddenly left without guidance, or the resources that were gained through their allegiance to the Empire. Do you really think most people aren't more than happy where they are, safely within the economical embrace of the Empire and kept safe from piracy and war by its armed forces? "I'd agree with some of that if there weren't plenty of other worlds out there to go to, or if the Empire made sure that no one _could_ leave. Can't you see that things are as close to freedom as an organized, civilized society can be?"

Linda sighed. "Some of us didn't really agree with that assessment. Some of us didn't think that attacking the President and forcing another war was what were trying to do. Some of us have been working to change things slowly from within without resorting to needless violence."

"Then why all the secrecy?" Sharra snorted. "Sure, there're places in the Empire where you wouldn't want to get too open about that," she didn't mention Primus by name, "but on the whole... Tell me, honestly, that the Empress would come for anyone in the night just for being a voice of change, for engaging in a peaceful movement toward a goal that wasn't directed at nothing but anarchy and destruction."

"Talia, no," Linda said. "The reason I suppose that she was cut off from proceedings but nobody attempted to assassinate her or anything so extreme." She made a face as she said that. "I'm perfectly willing to defend myself if need be, but degenerating society into anarchy and barbarism was never our goal."

"It was if you're looking to overthrow the Empire as it stands," Sharra refuted. "The very thing you've been fighting against is the result of a large number of people who saved this galaxy from the hell that descended on it. Death Dancers, El'dari, even others who had no real stake in what happened here, and who was it that these same people helped put in place to stabilize things? Where was your secret network when people needed it most? Was it helping to defend their lives and their freedom from the scum who had come to steal it from them, or was it skulking in wait for the chance to take advantage of what would follow after?"

Linda murmured quietly, "Xavier.. wanted us to help Chaos. Most of us listened to him. Not many were strong enough to resist him when he was determined about something."

"Did you ever take a good look at what they were doing?" Sharra asked. "I've looked over the records, and had the dubious pleasure of encountering one of their former members. That particular one was looking to gather his old comrades scattered about to go and assault planets. Planets of civilians wanting nothing more than the peace that the _Empire_ has given to them. And what was his reasoning?" Her vocoder shifted to mimic Nihilian's voice, "These people are over-populating the universe like some wild plague of life. The World Eaters will simply slow said plague." She trailed off, looking intently at the other, and shifted back to her own voice as she softly asked, "These are the kinds of people that your ideals are willing to sink to the level of?"

Linda closed her eyes, and said quietly, "No."

"That's who Xavier met up with and subsequently vanished," Sharra replied gently. "Doesn't that make you wonder just a little about what you've assumed for so long?"

Linda sighed again. "That a few who managed to work their way into positions of power were so does not imply that everyone was."

"I think you're wrong," Sharra shook her head once and turned to look out toward the passing starfield. "The very nature of the beast that you've explained would indicate that there's a lot more rot in there than you might think. Otherwise, why hide what would be accepted and could actually gain power from public support? What fear is it that keeps them hidden, I wonder. Simple safety, or fear of discovery?"

"I don't know," Linda admitted quietly.

Sharra checked their progress idly but continued the attack with quiet relentlessness, "In an open society, secrecy isn't a tool of freedom, it's an assassin's dagger. Your network, in choosing to avoid the theater of public opinion and support, took it upon themselves to decide _for_ the people that they claimed they were wanting to be free. That seems oddly contradictory to me. Or was it just certain people who were meant to be free? An interesting problem that points toward unpleasant conclusions."

They were coming up on Manitoba. Linda shook her head slowly. "Some took the new regime as a sign that their efforts weren't necessary anymore. Some... kept at it. That it wasn't enough. They excluded the ones who left."

"And why did you stay?" Sharra asked, turning her eyes back to study the woman.

"I don't know," Linda murmured. "Xavier... asked me to..."

"How many others do you suppose he asked the same?" Sharra asked quietly. "I'm not asking for information, just asking you to rethink the assumptions you've made in light of what's been revealed about that man."

"I don't know," Linda said quietly. "I'm not making any assumptions. He... I... I couldn't tell him no. I don't know what I thought about the matter, but when he said it everything made sense..."

Sharra chuckled softly, little humor in the brittle sound. "Do you have any idea how many incidents I've run across of atrocities beyond any sane imagining, and those who performed them at the behest of their leader saying much the same as you just did? Cults are a dangerous thing, they seem to make so much sense when a charismatic and manipulative mind sets them in motion but when the blood flows..." She shook her head sadly.

Linda sighed and made a little whimpering sound, and curled up on her seat. Sharra winced, ears tilting back as she heard that, nature fighting experience as she thought about it. She moved from her seat and crouched near the other, a hand reaching to gently touch her shoulder.

"It's alright," Sharra said gently. "The universe is full of bad things, sometimes it takes encountering and recognizing the demons to make it better. You have a chance now..."

"What chance? They're just going to lock me up and reprogram me or something..."

"Have faith," Sharra replied. "I didn't take this job on without feeling that it was the _right_ thing to do, and I've yet to see anything to convince me that I was wrong. Take a chance and believe in something beyond what you've known as truth, that maybe things won't turn out as bad as you think."

Linda let out a breath and closes her eyes for a moment, and gave a bit of a nod. They reached the jump gate to Toronto.

Sharra stood slowly, eyes still on the other. "I'll do what I can to see that you're at least given the chance, though I doubt the Empress will need to hear anything from me when she can see the doubt and remorse of your own soul."

She moved silently back to her seat and guided them through the gate, then set an arcing course toward the planet. Linda sat quietly as they came in toward Toronto to land. Sharra put in a call to the palace to request transfer of the prisoners she was currently in possession of, making note of the known names as well as the additional crew possibly connected to the fourth. She considered the last thoughtfully, and put in a request for contact or an audience at the Empress' convenience. Security forces could take the rest without comment, but she wanted a word before releasing the last.

Security promptly arranged movement of the prisoners to secure holding, and as usual, the Empress would be happy to see her. Sharra left the rest to their fate, explaining the restraint device briefly to the ones who appeared, then gestured for Linda to follow her.

"I don't offer anything lightly," she said, "Let's go see the Empress, shall we?"

Linda went along after quietly, her eyes primarily focused on the ground as she went. Sharra kept an eye on her, not quite so remiss in duty as to wholly accept the apparent compliance without caution, but led the way to the palace and the appointment she'd requested.

Talia was in her office, although it was getting fairly late now, tying up some loose ends and looking over reports. They'd managed to accomplish quite a bit in one day. She said, "Come on in," when she saw Sharra.

"Thank you, Empress," Sharra replied, ushering Linda in as well. "I've found the majority of those you asked me to look for, and will set out shortly to check on the last. Before that, though, I..." she trailed off, tilting her head and studying Talia frankly, then asked quietly, "Do I serve something I can truly believe in?"

Talia looked to Linda silently, who nervously raised her head to meet her eyes. "Linda," Talia said. "I don't think you would have done it without that little push from Xavier, but neither did it take more than a push. But I do hope you've learned something from this."

Sharra examined the exchange thoughtfully, then nodded minutely as it answered well her own question and strengthened what she had felt to begin with and in the following days. She smiled faintly, glancing aside. "I think she did, Majesty. And with that, I'd best be back off to my errands."

"You've done well, Sharra," Talia said. "I'll take it from here." She put her hand on Linda's shoulder and said quietly. "Don't worry, girl, no harm will come to you."

"Thank you, Empress," Sharra said softly, the quirk of her expression indicating clearly that she meant far more than the compliment. She dipped her muzzle in respectful salute, then headed back off through the palace and out to the landing field yet again, checking on the status of her messages to Zillah and Jenna. It was a good opportunity to get out that way for a brief visit while she dealt with the business at hand.

The messages noted as being received and acknowledged. She also apparently got a notice from the Imperial Palace with regards to "weekly salary plus bonuses." She spotted Zillah and Jenna nearby as she approached, and Zillah waved to her cheerfully.

Sharra idly checked through the message from the palace, but the greater part of her attention focused through the grin at seeing the two. "Glad you could make it," she said by way of understated greeting. "Be good to have some company on the trip to and from Tibet." She laid a gentle hand on Zillah's shoulder in passing, then headed for the ship.

Zillah smiled and headed after her cheerfully. "What's on Tibet?" Zillah asked.

" _You_ ," Sharra replied pointedly, "Get to visit your sister for a little bit while I take care of the last bit of business the Empress assigned. Things have gone pretty smoothly so far."

Zillah looked a little disappointed and said, "Okay..." They climbed aboard and got everything ready to go.

Sharra chuckled as she settled into the cockpit, leaving the flying to Zillah. "Oh don't sound so glum, you'll get into trouble again soon enough, no need to go asking for it. Besides, I'm sure Felicia will be glad to see both of you."

At least the name and face of the person indicated on Tibet was not Felicia, nor anyone else she saw while there. The fifth target was a dark-haired woman by the name of Katrina Mills. Zillah proceeded to fly them out that way.

"So what have you two been up to while I've been dredging through the corners of the galaxy?" Sharra asked conversationally, sifting through the data on the final target and committing it to memory.

"VertigoBall," Zillah replied.

Sharra grinned over at Jenna. "So you've been having fun? Tsk, the scandal of it! Might almost start to think you were looking at a little bit of normal life."

Zillah giggled. "Well, most people can't play it without getting dizzy and falling over."

"Sounds like fun?" Sharra looked a little puzzled, but then people had been doing stranger things for sport for a long time now and she chuckled.

Jenna said, "It isn't called VertigoBall for no reason."

"Hmm, suppose I'll have to see it for myself sometime," Sharra said. "In the ample spare time provided between assignments and general monitoring, of course."

Zillah brought them out of imperial space to where she could activate the jump drive, and headed on through toward Tibet.

Sharra looked out to the shifting panorama of the jump, then glanced over to Zillah. "So what's our ETA, captain?"

"Three hours," Zillah said.

"Hmm," Sharra murmured. "Considering the secrecy involved and the speed that things have gone into motion, there's still a very good chance that the final target should be there and unaware of the changing climate."

"With any luck at any rate," Jenna said. "Wonder what they were doing on Tibet..."

"I don't know," Sharra replied. "It seems like a pretty remote setting to have someone of import stationed, but then Siberia wasn't all that much better. Something to do with the Urians, perhaps."

"Maybe," Jenna said, settling in for the trip.

When they arrive, it doesn't really look anything out of the ordinary at first glance at least. Nobody had blown up the planet in the meantime. Sharra didn't expect to see anything out of the ordinary, trusting that if there had been something of immediacy about to happen here it would have been marked as urgent.

"Take us on in," Sharra said lightly, "I'll go take a look around and see what's to be found."

Zillah brought them down to the plateau near the colony and landed them nearby. It was a cold, clear day in the mountains of Tibet at the base, and a couple people were working on one of the ships near them.

Sharra headed for the hatch, "I'll meet you at your sister's place when I have everything settled."

It wasn't like there was a great deal of ground to cover here, with the one main building and the smattering of ones outside it. Zillah nodded and trotted on over that way. Sharra made her way to the main building and went inside, scanning for familiar faces or that of her target.

She didn't see her target in the main hall. Just a couple people sitting around playing craps, and the barkeep standing around watering them like plants. The image was an amusing one, and Sharra grinned as she headed over toward the tender. She stopped a little ways away and motioned him over, out of immediate earshot of the local flora.

He headed over to her and said, "What can I get you, lass?"

Sharra nodded in greeting, the grin shifting to a quirked smile as she answered quietly, "I'm looking for someone and was wondering if you could help me out."

"Who?" he asked, lowering his voice at her cue.

Sharra projected the image of the woman she was seeking and mentions her name, watching the man for any sort of reaction as she did so.

He clearly recognized her, and said, "Yeah, I've seen her. She arrived two days ago, didn't say much except for erm, 'charming' the men around here..."

Sharra dismissed the projection and nodded once, ear cocking in question. "Any idea where she might have gone, or who may have seen her last?"

"I don't know if she's left by now. Her ship's a Darknova with blue swirls on the wings."

Sharra hadn't seen any ship matching that description when she landed. "Hmm," she murmured. "Don't suppose you could point me in the directions of one of her erstwhile companions, could you?"

Something might have been said or muttered when normal defenses were lowered... a base approach, but practical over the years. He gestured vaguely to the group with the dice.

Sharra smiled and touched her brow in salute. "Thanks." She headed to approach the casual gamblers.

She didn't intrude or interrupt immediately, merely watching them for a minute. A good glance at the table indicated that either they were playing some weird variant of the game, or they're unclear on the rules even when sober and worse when drunk.

Sharra shook her head in brief amusement and stepped up to the table. "Hello boys, don't suppose one of you could help a stranger out?"

"Hey, baby, what ya need?"

Sharra crooked a grin. "I'm looking for a friend who was running around here recently. I was looking forward to catching up with her." She projected the image and looked around at them. "Know where she might have gotten off to?"

"Ah, Kat, one sexy mama," he said, grinning broadly. "Dinna say where she was headin' though. Guess she had business or something."

"Damn," Sharra muttered, shutting off the image. "Guess that's that, then. I'll have to catch her another time." In a more controlled setting there would have been flight plans or patrol sightings to give a clue, but here on a fringe world? Hah! She smiled brightly and tipped her muzzle. "Thanks for the info, boys. Lady luck stay with you."

She turned and headed for the door. They waved to her and turned back to their game. The only ones who might have seen where the distinctive ship headed off to would be the Death Dancers that patrolled the system, and Sharra went to see if their ships are landed at the moment. If not, she'd try raising them on the comm.

She didn't see their ships around. There were some ships there, of course, but not the Death Dancer ones with Abram's group. They'd gone off to Tijuana. Sharra shrugs mentally and headed for Felicia's, nothing much she could do without additional information and without a warp hole or gate in the system the target could be in transit or already to anywhere by now. The three sisters were sitting around chatting over pizza back there.

Sharra smiled a bit at the homey scene as she entered, "Don't mind me, no need to rush, turns out the trip was a dead end for me."

"How's that?" Felicia asked.

"I was looking for someone," Sharra replied, "But it looks like they headed out to parts unknown before we arrived."

"Maybe I could help?"

Sharra sank into a comfortable crouch, resting arms on her thighs, and smiled. "Unless you have a way of tracking a ship through hyperspace, and figuring out where it entered in the first place, I think I'm out of luck."

"Well, who are you looking for?"

"Woman by the name of Katrina Mills," Sharra replied. "Though from what I heard she wasn't around here very long. Odd, that..." Her brow furrowed, wondering at the brief timespan.

"Yeah, I seen her..." Felicia said. "Dunno what she wanted. Weird."

Sharra chuckled. "Other than charming the male populace? I couldn't begin to guess. No matter, I'm sure she'll turn up again sometime soon." There was a really old saying about bad pennies...

"Could check the cybernet..." Jenna proposed.

"I'll do that, but," Sharra motioned to the shared pizza with a smile. "You three enjoy the meal and a bit of catching up. I'm in the mood for some fresh air, I think."

Jenna nodded and munched on pizza. Sharra headed back out, planning on a bit of wandering and perhaps a mind-clearing run while she slogged through the morass of the cybernet for any information on her wayward seductress.

Ah, teenagers and their blogs to the rescue again. Someone matching her description arrived on planet Nepal an hour ago and already had a boy posting about how sexy she was.

Sharra dropped a message Jenna's way about her suggestion being right on target, commenting on bloggers with sharp amusement, and that she'd be back as soon as possible, keep an eye on Zillah, and all that... She broke off the idea of a quiet outing and headed for the ship.


	16. Warp Chase

Nepal was apparently directly neighboring planet Tibet, and they were connected by a stable jump hole that would cut down travel time considerably. That would certainly make things simpler, and Sharra headed the Firefly in that direction as soon as she could clear the planet. She sorted through the blogger's entries for information to narrow the likely locale to search.

The Nepal colony wasn't apparently very large, just some clusters of buildings in the wooded valleys of the planet. The boy apparently saw her near the landing area heading toward the inn.

Better to have a runner out in the fringes where there weren't quite so many people and mega-cities to contend with, Sharra supposed, though still wondering about the woman's short stay on Tibet. She would have assumed longer, considering the information had come from a static database... That was of minor interest though, and she would make all haste to the planet to begin the hunt.

The jump hole was something of a corkscrew, but not one of the harder ones to navigate all told. She came by to the planet without incident.

Sharra swung into orbit and performed a sensor scan, looking primarily to verify that the ship in question was there and get an idea of the population density present. Things could get socially unpleasant if the fugitive had taken the opportunity to attach a follower or two.

There was, indeed, a navy blue Darknova marked with light blue swirls landed at the docking area there. There were around half a dozen other small ships parked about of varying classes and sizes. The total population of the planet appeared to be around a thousand.

Sharra nodded in satisfaction and went through whatever procedures might be required to land, if any. Frontier worlds tended to be quite relaxed and free-wheeling, but some were more so than others. That seen to, she'd head off to find this inn the aspiring blog star had mentioned, keeping an eye out for her quarry along the way.

Nobody bothered hailing her as she approached, and there was nobody tending the docking area aside from a sign that said, "Please don't break into, steal, hijack, sabotage, blow up, or otherwise damage other people's ships."

Seeing that sign, Sharra made sure the ship was sealed and briefly considered breaking out the portable field generator... No, she decided, she didn't plan on being here quite long enough to make that precaution worthwhile. That aside, she proceeded with her hunt, keeping vigilant for signs of any riffraff who might be foolhardy enough to try and mug her along the way.

The inn was the largest building in the settlement which wasn't a warehouse at any rate, and the most highly trafficked. The population of the planet was apparently split around fifty-fifty between humans and Goats. There was a nanny goat tending the inn.

Sharra threaded her way through to the inn's patron, chuckling to herself at the thought of the billy goats gruff. "Pardon me." She stopped near the tender and politely called for her attention.

"What can I get you?" the female goat said.

Sharra smiled lightly. "I've just arrived in-system from Tibet where I just missed catching up with someone. I don't suppose you've seen her, have you?" She showed the image yet again.

"Oh, yes, she just went upstairs with the others, go on and join her if you like, she's in room 12."

"Thank you," Sharra replied with a brighter smile. "That makes my day." She headed off in that direction, having told the nanny the truth... she did so enjoy finishing up a job.

When she got outside the door to room 12, she heard some rather sexual sounds occurring inside, from at least five different people.

Sharra paused at the door. She really hated this sort of thing, there was nothing more guaranteed to get people hostile and ready to go off at the flip of a switch... she snickered at the inadvertent pun... than breaking in on their hard-earned recreational time. Nothing for it though, she sighed, unsnapping the short rifle and trying the door.

It was unlocked, and as to be expected, the room was filled with three women and six men, all of them wearing not particularly much at the moment and engaged in various interesting activities.

Sharra wasn't surprised, nor embarrassed as she closed the door behind her. A bit wistful, perhaps, but the job was the thing and she scanned for her target. The dark-haired woman she was looking for could be spotted amidst the clump of bodies.

One of the men spotted her and said, "Oh, another one to come join us!"

"Sorry, bonny lad, but not today," Sharra replied, her smile turning a tad apologetic as she lifted the rifle and turned a stunner on the lot of them. Crude and brutal, but effective, and the rest of them could get back to their fun in short order with nothing more than a mild headache.

The various people passed out in assorted interesting stages of coitus. They clearly weren't expecting to be attacked. Sharra did feel somewhat guilty about this, but she went about the business of disentangling and rearranging the poor folk gently. There wasn't a need to cause any more harm than she already had. Of course, she was going to make for an interesting sight carrying a naked and unconscious woman out of here on her shoulder... a sheet, yes, a sheet would work wonders.

Katrina groaned a bit when she was dug up. Perhaps the other bodies blocked the blast enough that she didn't get fully unconscious.

Sharra smiled wryly and took a step back as the woman stirred. "Would you like the dignity of leaving here dressed, Msr. Mills? I can give you a few minutes to do so, if you wish."

Katrina blinked for a moment, sighed and said, "Oh, goodness."

"Sorry about all this," Sharra waved her free hand to indicate the unconscious flesh pile, and had the grace to look as though she meant it. "I would have preferred another way, but time didn't seem to be on my side after missing you back on Tibet."

"I'm under arrest, aren't I."

"My name's Sharra, of the Empress' Own," came the reply. "And I think that should answer the question. Care to come along quietly? I'd really rather not add to your, uh, friends' stunner hangover by hitting them again."

Katrina wasn't really stupid enough to try to put up a fight while naked, and said, "Fine... let me please find my pants."

Sharra smiled crookedly. "Of course, the offer does still stand." She snapped the rifle back into its holster and took a step back to stand in front of the door. "Take your time to find what you need. After speaking with another of your organization I'm less inclined to be hair-triggered than when I started earlier today."

Katrina proceeded to dig through a pile of clothes that looked as though a hurricane smashed through the room. Eventually she managed to re-clothe herself.

Sharra turned and swung the door open. "Come along, then, and please, no trouble. I'm sure you've realized by now that I'm not readily accessible to your abilities, and it won't be an innocent bystander I turn to if someone suddenly decides to become hostile."

Katrina wasn't too happy about it, grumbling a bit as she goes along, but she didn't appear to have anything that could be reasonably used as a weapon on her clothing either. Sharra unhooked the 'Do Not Disturb' sign from the inside and placed it outside the door after closing it, then escorted her new charge outward from the inn.

"Anything you'd like to retrieve from your ship before we go?" Sharra asked quietly as they go along. "It may be a while before you can reclaim it, depending on the Empress' decision."

"The entire ship," she said flatly, sighing. "They'll take it apart if it's left here."

Sharra glanced aside to the woman thoughtfully. "Fond of your ship, are you?" One didn't generally go about making a ship distinctive without having some sort of attachment to it, and the pattern had certainly been unusual enough to draw attention.

"It's a custom job..." Katrina sighed.

Sharra tapped her fingertips lightly against her thigh as they neared the landing field. "Would you like to save it?" she asked quietly, glancing aside to the woman, and quirking a grin. "I'm willing to take a chance if you'll give your word to play along. Of course, you'd be taking a chance too, since I'd take unkindly to being lied to and would blast you out of space for it. Feel like testing lady luck?"

Katrina nodded, and said, "I won't try to run off, I promise..."

Sharra nodded once, gesturing to the Firefly. "I'll be following you in my own ship, we're headed back to Tibet first via the warp hole..." she paused, looking at the woman intently, then added softly. "Don't disappoint me, Msr. Mills."

Katrina went toward her swirly-marked ship nervously, and went to the indicated direction.

Sharra returned to the Firefly and went through the usual preflight, then took off and waits for the other ship before heading toward the wormhole. She wasn't stupid and remained within easy distance to fire if the need arose... not a prospect she was hoping for, but for some odd reason she'd felt compelled to offer the opportunity.

Katrina's ship flew into the corkscrew wormhole and disappeared out of sight in the twisting tunnel in hyperspace. Sharra followed closely after, looking forward to the return to Tibet, and planning to ride shotgun with the new captive on the way onward from there.

When she reached the end of the wormhole, however, Katrina's ship was nowhere in sight. Sharra sighs quietly and begins a thorough scan of the area, oddly disappointed in the turn of events.

"Damn, damn, damn," she muttered, then for the sake of thoroughness sends out an open comm signal. "Msr. Mills, if you're receiving this, you have to realize that there's nowhere to run. Do you truly want to remain a fugitive for the rest of your life?" Probably useless, but... Damn.

There wasn't any response. Going over sensor logs, it would seem that the ship appeared to have disappeared somewhere _inside_ the wormhole.

Sharra sighed and closed her eyes, letting the ship drift for a few minutes. She should have known better, she really should have, but it wasn't so much that failure that bothered her as the faint regret... The woman didn't, couldn't, realize the course she'd set herself on. The organization she was supported by was being dismantled, leaving her with far fewer options. And what option was it, really?

Her own sense of duty would put her back on the woman's track, relentless pursuit until such a time as she was brought to ground. There really wasn't anywhere that she could hide, not when she'd have to keep looking over her shoulder all the time for the rest of her life... that was no way to live. Sharra shook her head and snapped out of it, then plotted a course back to Tibet.

Down planetside, the three Jordan girls were still talking away, although the pizza had long since disappeared. Sharra checks in on them only briefly, smiled to herself and left them to their merriment for a while. No sense hurrying now, the thing was well and truly done for and a few hours wouldn't hurt one way or the other. She decided to return to the ambling she'd interrupted earlier, though at a sedate walk as she poked idly at the cybernet. Damn, damn, damn.

There weren't any relevant posts on it at the moment. One had to wonder where she went, though. Karzan ships weren't designed to be able to survive travel through hyperspace outside of a wormhole. Although Karzan's version of "The Warp" wasn't quite as rough as Warhammer's was, it was still hardly pleasant.

That was a minor bit of curiosity that would likely arise, and Sharra would poke around what _would_ happen to a ship leaving from the middle of a wormhole. Were there instances of split paths? There were hours to ponder it, so she may as well catch up on some of the local dimensional anomalies.

Some wormholes split off into hyperspace mazes that were not pleasant to get lost in, some looped back on themselves, or just tapered off into the open ethereal. Records were sketchy as to what happened, but few have returned from such an accident, and the ones who had generally showed up a hundred years later on the other side of the galaxy babbling about demons.

Not a pleasant image and an even less pleasant fate, Sharra knew, as there were some very unfriendly things that walked around in one dimension or another, and even worse that managed to peek out from the spaces between them. No, she wasn't a theorist or physicist highly familiar with the concepts, she'd just encountered the damned things... She headed back to the ship absently, thinking.

On returning, she shrugged inwardly and prepares it to launch, intending to take a pass back through the wormhole and keep a careful eye out for any signs of a branching path. If there wasn't one... she didn't want to think that she might have contributed to something that would be little more than suicide, and possible much worse.

Back in the wormhole, upon more careful examination of the wormhole's sides, sensors picked up what appeared to be a hole poked in the side of the wormhole, vaguely the size of a Darknova.

Sharra examined the thing quickly as there likely wasn't much time to do it, several options and considerations cycling through her mind. She thought once, twice, then twisted the Firefly over to intersect with the anomaly, silently calling herself a variety of different types of fool but grimly determined to the pursuit.

The ship shuddered a bit as it widened the hole somewhat, being larger than a Darknova, and she was promptly met by a chaotic mess of swirling colors. The shields shuddered again, as though something struck them, but sensors didn't pick up anything outside.

Sharra tried the comm again, without much hope for it, and moved outward from the point she'd entered. Somewhere out here she'd either find what she was looking for, the remains of a battered and broken ship, or something waiting to spring. She quirked a grin and shrugged silently, she hadn't been looking for an easy life when she signed on to begin with.

The comm responded only with noise, and the occasional scattered voices that might be transmissions at one point of the galaxy to another. Sensors weren't functioning properly in this, but she got her money's worth with her ship, and it seemed to be able to handle the punishment this place was giving it.

Sharra continued a while longer, trying to keep track of the path back to where she'd entered this hellish subspace, and left the comm turned on in the unlikely event that something more sensible might come of it.

"Come on, girl, don't be a fool," she transmitted at one point, probably to nothing more than static. "Don't throw it all away over some cause or what you fear might happen. It's not worth it, damn it!"

Sensors may not be picking up much, but she _saw_ the distinctive markings of Katrina's ship in the swirling ethereal up ahead. Sight range, and close enough to pick out details like the paint, that wasn't good. Sharra quickly damped the ship's forward motion and practically drifted toward the Darknova, seeking any signs that it was still under power or anything more than a hulk...

The lights were on inside, but the shields were down and it appeared to be adrift. Sharra's eyes narrowed as she considered, played out the pros and cons, weighed the alternatives... and then sighed as she nudged the Firefly closer to the drifting ship. The outside looked nasty enough, alright, but she was fairly certain she could get across with her own shielding turned on. As for getting back... that would depend.

Once she was as close as she could safely get, she headed back and prepared to do just as she'd done with the Ultranova a while back, if even a bit more carefully. As she got in close, she saw _things_ moving in and around the ship. They paid her no attention whatsoever, however, apparently taking her to be a very animate piece of debris.

Sharra very carefully avoided paying any direct attention to the things, remembering all too well a few species of night-spawn nastiness that would turn suddenly at the faintest flicker of recognition. She very cautiously and slowly made her way toward one of the ship's entries, whether hatch or cargo hold, whichever would appear to have the better chance of getting out of this.

Through the cargo hold, she saw in the cockpit Katrina very much alive and zapping at the little creatures with small blue bolts, trying to ward them off and away from her with limited success.

At least the craft was familiar from her early time with Zillah, and she made her way quickly forward to lend a hand. Taking her cue from the other woman, she flickered through the short rifle's settings as she snapped it up and opened fire on the creatures with carefully placed electrical bolts.

It took a good deal of shots, but they eventually scattered and crawled off and decided to pick on easier prey. Katrina didn't look in very good shape, though, her hair frazzled and her face covered in cuts and bruises. Sharra re-holstered the weapon as the last of the things left and went to find a medkit, muttering to herself.

Katrina shook her head and sat down in the pilot's seat. "Why did you follow me?"

Sharra returned with the things that she needed and moved to crouch near the woman, reaching up to tilt her head back and pull the skin back near her eyes. "Look at me," she snapped, checking the pupils for any signs of shock even as she scanned for any other signs of injury.

Katrina was trembling a bit, and her eyes were bloodshot. There were lacerations along her legs and arms, as well as small burn marks.

"That was really, really stupid," Sharra said with quiet heat, none of it seeming to translate to her actions as she turned to gently tending the wounds. "Just what the hell were you thinking, anyway?"

"Why did you follow me?" she said again, her voice wavering. "Now we're both lost."

"We'll get back," Sharra replied evenly, looking up for a moment. "This is going to sting." She returned to spread an antibiotic over one of the cuts before carefully bandaging it.

Katrina winced a bit. "Never get back. Lost forever. Nobody ever gets back..."

Sharra smirked. "Is that so? Then what in the _hell_ were you thinking with this stunt? You gave me your word, girl, you promised..." Her eyes flash upward angrily to pierce the other's, then turned back to the gentle ministration. Either she wasn't as angry as she seemed, or her control was a lot better than might be expected.

"Never get back... Never go home... Never take me... The demons will take me first... Sheniro will take me..."

"You could be so lucky," Sharra replied with a cool chuckle. "Sheniro's probably enjoying himself at his temple and paying not the least attention to us. No, you have the misfortune of being stuck with _me_ , and I'm not about to stay stuck out here." She leaned back on her haunches, examining the work already done and looking for anything else that needs tending.

"Lost... lost forever..." she murmured, curling up. "How? How do you plan to get out of here?"

"Snap out of it," Sharra snorted lightly, setting things aside for now. "I'm going to hope you've got a vac suit around here somewhere. You do, right?"

"I won't leave my ship. Not my baby." She shook her head.

Sharra leaned forward, laying a hand to either side of the woman and letting her weight rest against the pilot's seat, her muzzle dipping face to face. "You don't have a choice now, girl. You did, you even gave your word on it, but you threw that right back in my face, didn't you? You're in no shape to deal with this hell on your own, just look at you, and I'm not going to leave you out here to die, you hear me?"

"No. No. Not my baby." She was on the verge of tears, whimpering softly.

Sharra shifted a hand to curl under the woman's chin, tilting her face to look into it. "You don't have a choice," she said quietly, "I know my ship can handle this mess, and you and me are going to go across to it and then get the hell out of here."

There was a loud _BANG!_ sound against the hull of the ship, followed by a creaking sound. Katrina about jumped out of her skin at the sound.

Sharra looked quickly in that direction, then back to Katrina, her voice soft. "You hear that? No shields in the way to keep them out. They're waiting to get back in here and you're not going to be here when they do. You're going to get into a vac suit and I'm going to get us back to my ship. We don't have much time, girl..."

Katrina had ended up frozen in terror, gibbering quietly.

"Damn it," Sharra muttered, gently reaching to brush hair back from the terrified woman's forehead. "Stay here."

She headed back into the ship in search of a vac suit, sure that there'd be one someplace and only needing to find out where Katrina had decided to store the thing. She locates the thing without too much trouble, near the emergency rations, even as the ship gave another heavy shudder. The Darknova was a fine enough ship, but it wasn't designed for this sort of thing. And Katrina didn't have someone heavily modifying the thing for her, either.

Sharra hurried back with the thing, looking grimly in the direction of the latest knock against the hull and recognizing it for the death knell it would be soon enough.

"Come on now," she urged gently, showing the suit. "Let's get you suited up."

She did what she had to, cajoling or doing it herself to get Katrina into the suit, carefully checking the seals along the way. Katrina went through the motions numbly, her mind clearly not on the process, but she didn't fight it. As soon as the last connection and seal was mated, Sharra dragged Katrina along back to the cargo hold and took a wary look around before even thinking about trying to leap back across to the Firefly.

The Firefly had staunchly held its position near the Darknova, even as the smaller ship was under attack by some nasty-looking humanoid-sized shadows. Sharra looked at Katrina, still unresponsive and quickly looked around the hold for rope, twine, or anything else that can be used to tie the woman's hands together. Once found, she'd duck her head through the circle of arms and snug the girl close with one of her own, leaving the other free for the thruster-assisted transfer. She hesitated a moment, then leapt out and fires the jets to push her toward the Firefly.

It took her a moment to locate it, but she managed and narrowly got out of reach of the claws of the shadow creatures on the Darknova's hull. They made the jump back to the Firefly safely. Sharra didn't second-guess her good fortune in making it across with the two of them in one piece, instead diving back inside as quickly as possible and sealing the ship tight behind them. It was moments like this, she reflected, when she was thankful for the conversion, otherwise she'd probably be gasping for breath and trembling with an adrenaline rush.

She ducked out of the circle of Katrina's arms and wavered for a moment, then headed back to put the woman comfortably to rest in the back cabin. A few minutes could certainly be spared for stripping away the vac suit and tucking her in.

Katrina was shaking and whimpering, terrified to death of what she'd seen out there, and perhaps more than a little psychic affects as well. The ship was holding up fine, however, the shields keeping out the shadow creatures.

"Shh, we'll be out of here soon," Sharra soothed. "Just rest here for a little while..."

She did what she could to get Katrina settled, then headed back to the cockpit to try and follow a reverse course and get them the hell out of this mess! Sensors didn't bring up anything useful as to where the wormhole was, and Katrina's ship was already vanishing into the etherealness again. She couldn't seem to manage to trace it back, but somehow, through pure blind luck, she stumbled upon the wormhole again.

Maybe Sheniro _was_ watching and was having a grand old laugh at her expense, Sharra didn't know and was _not_ going to question it, glad to leave the queasy reality beyond the boundaries of the wormhole and get back to more comfortable realms. She turned the ship to follow the wormhole, guessing randomly which direction was the way back toward Tibet.

Shortly, she brought the ship out of the corkscrew wormhole and emerged into the Tibet system again. Sharra heaved a mental sigh of relief and moved the ship out of the main flow of possible traffic, engaging the cloaking field and bringing it to rest before leaving the cockpit and heading to check on her guest. Katrina was curled up quietly in the corner, looking exhausted and staring around wide-eyed at nothing in particular.

Sharra walked quietly over and crouches down, her voice soft. "It's alright, you're safe, we're out of that place and back in normal space." Her head tilted, and she reached a hand out. "We're not lost anymore, I got us out of there just like I promised."

She stared at Sharra, shaking and disbelieving in her eyes. She stuttered for a moment but couldn't manage to form any sentences.

Sharra quirked a smile, fingers curling under the woman's chin and tilting gently upward. "I'm not a ghost, and I'm not lying. Listen..." Her ears cocked as though deliberately listening, and she turned her eyes back to Katrina. "Hear that? Nice and quiet, isn't it? We're just floating nice and safe in normal space outside Tibet. Want to come up and take a look?"

Katrina looked around quietly, and murmured, "We're... safe? I'm alive?" She stumbles to her feet unsteadily.

"Yes, we're alive and safe," Sharra replied quietly, rising and reaching an arm to steady the woman. "Come on, you can see for yourself."

She urged and cajoled Katrina out of the cabin and up to the cockpit so she could indeed see the normal starfield and the instrument readings locating Tibet near to hand.

Katrina stared out at the stars, staggering a bit and sinking down into a seat. "You... Why did you follow me?"

Sharra settled comfortably into the pilot's seat, enjoying the view for a moment herself. "I don't know," she answered quietly after a minute. "I suppose I could say it was my duty to follow and bring you back, but that's not all it was either. It was just something I had to do, knowing I wouldn't be able to look at myself in the mirror for a while if I didn't after figuring out where you went."

"You saved me... you don't even know me..."

"Yeah well, I've done crazier things for less, I suppose," Sharra replied, looking vaguely uncomfortable. "Anyway. You didn't ever say exactly what you were thinking when you went out there, either."

"You could say I wasn't," she muttered. "I don't know. I was scared. Scared of spending the rest of my life in prison..."

Sharra smiled and shook her head. "I don't think you're going to have to worry about that."

The cloaking field snapped off as she toggled it through the neural link, and the starfield moved around them as she turned their course to intersect Tibet at a leisurely pace. Katrina sat quietly as they returned momentarily to Tibet.

Sharra sent a message as they landed to Jenna, asking how the visit was going and whether they'd like some more time, explaining that she has the final captive on hand after a bit of an ordeal.

She looked over at Katrina, not moving yet, "We're going to be picking up a couple people here, soon if not right away..." Her ears flickered indecisively, then she added quietly. "No trouble from you or you'll find yourself down and unconscious before you realize what happened. I wouldn't bother with that warning, but I can't exactly ask your word and expect you to keep it, now can I?"

Katrina looked to the floor.

Jenna and Zillah were happy to go whenever. Sharra gathered her troupe up then and got them started back on the trip to Toronto, leaving Zillah to enjoy flying the ship and keeping a quiet eye on their guest. She could understand the fear, but the disappointment was still a bad taste in her memory.


	17. Reassurances

Katrina seemed considerably unhinged after her experience in the Ethereal Plane. Perhaps it affected her more badly than was immediately apparent.

Jenna took an odd look to her and sent privately to Sharra, "Something's not right here..."

Sharra glanced at Jenna and nodded, agreeing as she looks back to Katrina thoughtfully. "I'm going to get our guest settled in for the trip," she said, getting up and motioning. "Come on, there's a cabin in back where you can relax a bit."

Katrina stood up unsteadily and stumbled after her to the back. Sharra stopped by the replicator on the way back, considering inputting one of any number of chemical formulas she had for sedatives or knockout drugs, but settled for getting some water. She led Katrina to the cabin and gestured within.

"Why don't you sit down. You've had a rough few hours."

Katrina sat shakily. "I'm... I'm fine..." she insisted insincerely.

Sharra shook her head slowly and crouched nearby, offering the glass to the shaken woman. "Here, drink this, it's just water. No more surprises," she reassures with a quiet smile.

Katrina took it and drank a bit. "Where... Where are you taking me?"

Sharra nodded once in silent approval, easing back on her haunches as she considered the question. "To Toronto," she said, deciding on the honest approach. "The Empress sent me to find a number of people from your organization. You were the last on my list." She was certain she hadn't been the only one with a list like that, truly a bad day for the organization when Xavier's records had been found.

"You think ... it was enough to shut it down completely?"

"I don't know," Sharra admitted, "but I can hope so. I've seen enough good and bad along the way that I'd really like to think that this Empire can be spared some of the bad. Not that people necessarily see themselves in that light, of course." She chuckled quietly and shrugged. "Not that they necessarily _are_ by nature, either, but sometimes the bad ones can lead others astray."

"What's going to happen to me?" she whispered.

Sharra tilted her head. "What do _you_ think is going to happen?" Oh, she could imagine alright, if it had been enough to decide that stupid stunt was a preferable alternative.

"... they're going to lock me up forever and tear my mind inside out and make me think I'm..."

"Stop it," Sharra interrupted gently before Katrina could get too far into a downward spiral of panic. "Is that really what you think of the Empire? Did the higher-ups in your little network manage to instill that image so well that you can't see anything beyond it?"

Katrina murmured, "She... she... betrayed us... she ... Chaos..."

"Who betrayed you?" Sharra asked quietly. "Empress Talia? Have you taken a good look around at what she's done with the Empire? There's relative peace and stability, people are all around feeling secure, and there's work being done to keep things on that level. Is some rally against a concept and name of 'Empire' really worth disrupting so much that could be good?"

"Talia! Talia joined Chaos!" Katrina said, shaking. "Talia..."

Sharra sighed. "Perhaps she did, but you know what? People do change, and sometimes for the better. She obviously got away from it and is doing what she can to _fix_ the mess left behind when Chaos when sweeping through. Oh sure, it could be a ruse and she's just waiting for the opportunity to turn it all back... but I've seen too much _good_ coming out of it. Evil couldn't fake that much for that long, it's not in its nature."

"She... she... how could... she turned away... from... everything..."

"Turned away from what?" Sharra asked. "A life skulking in the shadows and wondering every minute whether someone like me would be following them? Damned right she did," she said forcefully, "and for the best reasons of all, to rebuild and help the people that your secret network claims it wants to free. So who's the better person for it? The Empress, or someone sneaking around and looking to cause chaos?"

Katrina closed her eyes. "Better to have killed me..."

Sharra frowned at that. "Why? Do you want to die so badly that you'd wish that rather than take responsibility for your actions and trust that maybe things aren't as bad as you've been led to believe?" An amused smile emerged. "Maybe in the old days someone would have just killed you, it's a lot easier that way you know, but the Empress _didn't_ send an assassin."

"She wanted us alive... so she could pull apart the rest of our organization from our minds..."

"She doesn't need to," Sharra replied bluntly. "I've seen the information that was gained about the organization, I _brought_ it to her. For all intents and purposes, that organization is doomed." Her muzzle tipped upward slightly and golden eyes flickered. "I don't work for a torturer, and I wouldn't."

"You... you ... you saved my life..." She looked toward the floor. "Probably more..."

"It was the right thing to do," Sharra replied, her stance and voice softening. "I do what I do because I believe in it, otherwise there'd be no point. May not always be just the right thing, but I like to think I'm basically a good person..." She chuckled softly. "Though your friends on Nepal would probably agree that I can be a real bitch sometimes."

"I..." Katrina stopped, drinking a bit more of the water and managing to calm herself somewhat, the shaking easing a bit. "I owe you... not sure just what but..."

"You don't owe me anything," Sharra replied firmly. "Neither does anyone else I ever lend a hand to. Isn't it enough to do something for its own sake, and take satisfaction in knowing you've helped someone else when they needed it? I think so." She shrugged and looked down at her hands. "Sometimes people can change, I have to believe that and act on it or I'll end up being just another tool of some regime."

"I..." Katrina murmured, "but... I don't know." She sighed, leaning back and putting down the glass and putting her face in her hands.

"So tell me about it," Sharra said softly. "Maybe talking will help you figure out just what you want. Just taking a look at how you were spending your time made me think more that you were inclined to enjoy life rather than toe the line of people who were looking to turn everything upside down."

Katrina shook her head, crying softly.

"Hey now, it's not as bad as all that," Sharra soothed gently, reaching to touch Katrina's shoulder lightly in reassurance. "You're alive, safe, and have a long and potentially bright future ahead of you, even if you might not see it right now. This isn't the end of the world, girl, trust me if nothing else."

"I don't know. I don't know what to do, I don't know what's going to happen to me... I'm scared... and now my life belongs to you, and you can do whatever you want with me, and you're going to take me back to Toronto and maybe they aren't going to ..."

"Shh," Sharra murmured, applying gentle pressure to the woman's shoulders and dipping her head to meet the other's eyes with her own quietly-intent gaze. "You're going to be alright, nothing's going to happen to you as long as you're honest and truly don't mean any harm... I promise."

Her ears tilted back at that, accepting the responsibility she'd just taken on by giving her word, but...

Katrina shook her head. "Nothing, never me... you... I don't know why you saved me... they would have... I don't know what they would have done to me... what would they have done... if they'd have just killed me or.."

"It's alright," Sharra emphasized with a gentle, soothing tone, a hand rising to stroke the woman's hair lightly. "You're safe, no one can get at you now, and things will be just fine. I trust the Empress to do what's right, Katrina, she won't do you any harm."

"Won't she?" she murmured. "But then what will she do with me?"

Sharra smiled crookedly. "Probably the same thing she does with the rest of the strays that come wandering along, find a place where they can do the most good."

"Should have just killed me..." Katrina muttered, sighing again.

"Why?" Sharra asked again, as she'd done the first time she'd heard that, smiling with faint amusement as she cocked her head. "You've got a lot to look forward to, things you can do with your life and all the wonderful things to enjoy about it. Don't wish that all away just because things look a little bleak right now."

"My poor ship... My baby..."

The smile quirked to a grin, and Sharra chuckled. "A ship is just a ship, and you can always get another one when the time comes. Better to have _it_ floating out in that hellhole alone than being stuck on it alone, isn't it?"

Katrina curled up quietly and didn't say anything more, closing her eyes and sighing softly.

Sharra frowned at the withdrawal, drawing back and folding her arms. "So is that all your organization left to you and your self-worth?" she asked coolly. "There's got to be more in there than that, even if you don't realize it yet. So you lost a ship, so you got dragged off to face the music for being associated with a group that I'd sooner die than have a part of, and now you're going to curl into a ball? Is that really all that you've got, girl? Has your pride been so ground down by your so-called 'friends' that you'd rather die than accept that maybe, just maybe, things are going to be alright and that someone could give a damn about you for no other reason than being another thinking, breathing being?"

Katrina winced slightly. "No. I don't deserve it."

"The hell you don't!" Sharra fumed. "Everyone deserves it, is entitled to a little bit of freedom and happiness just through the miracle of being _alive_. Don't shortchange yourself or your worth, just because of some mistaken faith placed in the assholes that dragged the original and worthy cause you followed down into the gutter rather than letting it go."

"I don't know what to say," Katrina said, opening her eyes to look at her. "You are..."

Sharra snorted partly in disgust at the things she'd been seeing about this organization and partly in amusement at her own reaction to it. The trickle of humor won out, though, and she grinned with quiet amusement. "I'm what? Outspoken? Pushy? Arrogant? I can be all those and a lot more when something annoys me. And nothing's surer to do that than seeing someone beaten down under the guise of 'freedom'."

"No. I wasn't going to say that," Katrina said. "You are not the likes of which I have seen before."

Sharra's head shifted to the side, ears perking, and her stance relaxed from its briefly hard edge, arms dropping to rest on her thighs. "How do you mean?" she asked curiously.

"Most people wouldn't care so much about anything, never risk their lives for someone they don't even know and might not ever see again..."

Sharra thought about that a moment, then shrugs lightly and turned his gaze away. "See enough of what's out there and you have to look closer at things after a while to remember why you do what you do. It's the little things that make it all worthwhile, it has to be, otherwise it'd be too damned easy to say to hell with it and do whatever you wanted just because you can. Believing in something, _really_ believing in it..." She shook her head once. "Not an easy thing sometimes, but you can still see the beautiful and worthwhile things if you watch closely and have faith."

"You'd think after some while you'd end up being cynical about everything, nobody's really in their best interests about others, they only care about themselves, I didn't do what I did for the pleasure of it, but to manipulate them, to take advantage of their own desires and turn them to my own ends..."

"It's easy to fall into that trap, I do it now and then," Sharra admitted quietly. "There's a fine line that has to be walked, though, giving people the benefit of the doubt until they prove you wrong, otherwise..." She looked back to Katrina with a melancholy smile. "What's the point if you can't enjoy the company of others, when there isn't enough left of yourself to offer them in trust?"

"It's all I've ever done... lied, cheated, manipulated people to get what I want..."

"Does that mean you can't change?" Sharra asked gently. "There are other ways to go about life if you're willing to take a chance on others and risk a bit of yourself on it. The rewards... oh, they can be better than anything you'd ever see out of a false twist, a smile honestly gained is more precious than anything."

Katrina stared off thoughtfully. "I don't know. I don't know if I could, anyway."

"Why couldn't you?" Sharra asked, "What do you think people all over do day in and day out? They go about their lives doing their normal, mundane routines, and trying to find a little bit of happiness where they can, and sharing it with those they love. People like me..." she shrugged and smiled slightly, "Well, there will always be those who decide to prey on others, and there has to be someone out there to stop it."

"I don't know. I just don't know," Katrina said. "Habits can be... hard to break sometimes."

"Think of the possibilities, though," Sharra urged gently. "Sure, the ways you mentioned might have gotten you your way for a while, but after a while how satisfying was it, really? Habits require more and more to eke the same enjoyment out of them, while the alternative... Try it sometime," her voice turned to a soft, memory-wistful murmur, "you'll see what a pale shadow you had before. Believe it."

Katrina sank down wearily and closed her eyes. "You are so determined to save me," she whispered. "And you really think it's worth it? Perhaps."

"I can't save the world," Sharra smiled quietly. "But maybe I can save a worthwhile bit of it now and then. I think it's worth the effort and risk, that there's something inside you that's worth any price."

Katrina cried softly. Sharra watched the woman silently for a span of breaths, then smiled faintly as she recognized a somehow healthier reasoning and rhyme to the tears this time.

"Not everyone is out for themselves and looking to use you, Katrina," Sharra said gently and moved to sit nearby. "I'd like to see you given the chance, see you give _yourself_ the chance to be something more, to see what really _could_ be if you let it."

"I feel like I'd inevitably let you down. That I could never live up to that idea."

Sharra tilted her muzzle to look down at Katrina and smiled lopsidedly. "I was pretty mad when it came down to it, though more at myself for taking a risk so quickly on nothing more than an instinct or hunch... and I was a bit disappointed too," she admitted, "but you had to make that decision with what you knew and believed. I can't blame you for your fear, not when it was all you'd been taught to believe in."

"I don't know what else to believe in..."

"Yourself?" Sharra suggested. "That's the first thing to really believe in, to accept what you are and that you might just fail now and again, but you'll get up and go again. Everything after that is easy, just something to add to that belief in self rather than substitute for it. Maybe that'll just be life for its own sake, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's what most people decide on at the end of the day."

"I don't know why I'm still alive."

"Why shouldn't you be?" Sharra replied, nudging Katrina lightly with an elbow. "You want to live, so you will, and you'll figure things out as you go along just like the rest of us. The real question isn't why you're still alive, but _what_ you're going to do with your life now that you're thinking about it. That's a tough one, but can bring you a lot of happiness if you do it right."

"Do I really have much choice about it?" Katrina said. "I'm probably just going to be locked up anyway..."

"I don't think that's in your future," Sharra replied quietly. "Not if you're really serious about taking a new look at life and what it has to offer. The Empress..." she shakes her head once, "She's a good person, and she'll give you a chance if you truly want it."

"One can only hope." She sighed.

And they arrived in Toronto. Sharra looked up as the faint distortion that occurred with warp translation announced their arrival, then looked aside to Katrina with a final smile.

"Trust me." Sharra pushed herself up and made her way back to the cockpit for the approach to the planet.

Zillah was bringing them down toward the imperial capital for a landing.

"How is she?" Jenna asked.

"I think she'll be okay," Sharra replied, not bothering to settle in since they were so close. "What's local time are we looking at now? No sense stirring things up if it's _too_ late." She remembered it was already getting toward evening when she was here last, and it wasn't that long ago.

"Six am," Jenna replied. The sun was just rising when they set down on the landing field.

"Later than I thought," Sharra chuckled. "I'll put a call in to the palace and hope the Empress is sleeping a little past the crack of dawn at least."

Probably already be out and about, she mused, but a non-urgent message would hopefully at least remove one more distraction from breakfast. Things were fairly quiet, but some people were already up and about around the capital. Jenna stretched a bit.

Zillah says, "Breakfast sounds good."

"Food always sounds good to you," Sharra teased, grinning. "But probably a good idea. Why don't you two grab something at a local restaurant and enjoy the morning while I wait to complete this business and see if there's anything else to be done?"

Zillah smirked a bit and said, "Okay, okay." She popped open the hatch and climbed out, Jenna following behind her.

Sharra smiled as they left, then put in a call to the palace majordomo to request an audience at the Empress' leisure, stressing that there was no great urgency to it. Afterwards, she settled to patiently await a summons, mind wandering a bit and trying not to focus too much on one subject or another of recent interest.

Zillah and Jenna returned to the ship at around 8 am, with no word from the palace besides an acknowledgment that she'd be sent for when the Empress was free. Sharra was in no hurry, and as she hadn't locked the cabin she was content to leave Katrina to decide for herself when to emerge for reasons of sociability or hunger.

"Find a good place to eat?" Sharra asked the returning sisters, and continued to laze comfortably in her seat.

Zillah said, "Yeah, there was this place down the road that has bacon and stacks of pancakes with strawberries smothered all over them and scrambled eggs and orange juice and stuff...."

Sharra grinned at the recitation, finding it far more satisfying than one of the earlier prim pronouncements of daily caloric requirements. "Sounds heavenly," she replied. "Did they trot the cow out beforehand to prove the bacon would be fresh?"

"No.." Zillah said, blinking in a bit of horrification. "Isn't bacon made from pigs and not cows anyway?"

Sharra laughed lightly and shrugged. "You're asking _me_? Even when I had to eat I burned water if I tried to cook." That was why she'd had a replicator put in, so she didn't have to subject guests to the horrors of it all on the rare occasions she had them when she'd been back on her homeworld.

"So did I miss anything?"

Sharra flicked an ear dismissively. "Not a thing, it's been completely quiet since you left. One of those rare moments as a public servant."

Around 8:15 she got a message from the palace saying that the Empress would see her now.

"Duty calls," Sharra said and headed off to collect Katrina, a trickle of unease and worry gnawing at her but held in check as she led the way to the appointment.

Katrina followed along quietly, looking as though she'd been crying a good deal more in the meantime. The palace guards nodded to Sharra as she passed. Sharra didn't miss the sign of recent tears, and while she might wish to there's nothing more she could do for now and turned firmly to the business at hand to quiet the pangs of conscience. She offered the guards a brief nod in return and continued briskly along to find the Empress.

Talia was in her office reading over reports of the previous day and night's activities. She looked up at them when they appeared in the doorway and motioned them in.

"Empress," Sharra offered in polite greeting along with a respectful tilt of her head, and walked quietly to stand before her. "I found the last one you asked me to. Here's the record of the assignment."

She drew out a datapad and set it on Talia's desk, the thing containing her first-person recordings with a few hurried notes for reference. Talia looks over the records thoroughly, then looks up at Katrina then to Sharra.

"Excellent job," Talia said. She smiled a bit sadly at Katrina. "Do relax, girl, you look as though you've just swallowed a beetle."

"She's been somewhat concerned about the matter," Sharra remarked blandly, which Talia could easily have seen as she hadn't edited anything out including her own lapse in judgment. "Understandable, considering the goblinization this organization clearly made of even the current state of the Empire."

Talia gave a nod. "Quite. I know the likes of which you were doubtless told as well. But there's far more to it than just what they tell you..."

"Isn't there always?" Sharra replied, smiling faintly. "The old saying goes that there's two sides to any story, but they're wrong, there's as many sides to any story as there are people involved in it."

Talia called in a guard and said, "The guard will escort you to some quarters. You should get something to eat and get some rest. You'll be right next door to Linda if you care to talk to her also. I'll be with you this evening, okay?"

Katrina nodded nervously, and followed the guard out. Sharra listened to the exchange silently and watched the guard escort Katrina out, then turned back to face Talia and straightened perceptibly.

"Thank you, Empress," Sharra said quietly and dipped her muzzle to accentuate it, then continued, "Is there another service I may perform, or should I return to the 'normal routine'?"

"You may be interested to know that this little organization has collapsed overnight. Oh, there may still be a few isolated cells of them around, but they've been driven deep underground and have lost a lot of their heavy support." Talia gave a small grin. "And all thanks to you." She added after a moment. "And Jenna, and Zillah, and everyone else that helped, of course."

Sharra smiled. "I'm glad I could do something to help out, and equally glad that they won't be sitting out there to be causing trouble again in the near future. I..." she tipped her head in a partial shrug and she continued quietly, "I think those recordings will speak best for what I think, I've never been one to speak with any great eloquence or conviction unless there's something there for me to believe in."

Talia gave a small smile and said, "Well, I hope that I never disappoint, as I _am_ working toward what I believe in here."

" _That_ is what I have faith in beyond all else," Sharra replied with a quiet intensity matched by her gaze. "You _could_ have ignored the calls for help from the fringe worlds when I first came. You _could_ have allowed the Jordans in the Tijuana system be rolled under by suspicion and political expediency by sacrificing them to Whitetree to salve his anger. You _could_ have sent an order to assassinate those who had worked against you and this Empire. You did none of these, though, instead lending aid, demanding the truth, and showing compassion where another would not have. You have done all of this as naturally as you breathe and without hesitation, and in that have you earned more than my own service, Empress."

Talia smiled softly and inclined her head to Sharra. "And I shall continue to do so certainly. Far more to save what can still be saved than to kill any who might possibly attempt to work against me." She leaned back and sighed a bit and said, "Return to standard routine, then. I could do with a stretch of peace."

"As you wish," Sharra replied. "I'll see what I can do to see you get it."

Sharra inclined her head respectfully, then turned to head back out and see what other troubles might be brewing and need tending to around the Empire. At least this shadowy organization of telepaths wouldn't be at the root of them!


End file.
